Never be alone again
by Bodge
Summary: Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!
1. Chapter 1

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Character**s - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman, Puck's sister.

**A/N** -I'm not sure where this came from, but after the Puck/Shelby kiss it wouldn't leave me alone! It's probably going to be a one shot but who knows I may add to it in the future.

Reviews/concrit are loved.

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><p>"Noah" Shelby called his name as he walked towards the lunch room, "could I have a quick word?"<p>

Puck nodded and followed Shelby into her office only speaking once the door was closed, "is it Beth, is she sick?".

"No no she's fine." Shelby was quick to reassure the worried father, "it's just, My mom's sick and I told my dad I'd go over there this weekend to give him some time off. It would be a lot easier for me if I didn't have to keep an eye on Beth too, so I wondered if you'd watch her for me. I mean if you already have plans that's fine."

"No, I'd love to have her" Puck grinned.

"Do you need to ask your Mom?"

He shook his head, "Nah, as soon as she sets eyes on Beth, that'll be it, I probably won't see the poor kid again for the entire weekend."

Shelby smiled, "you should have said something, she could have come round to visit with you. But anyway, I'm free last period on Friday, I could pick Beth up from daycare and meet you here with her stuff, it would save you trailing over to my place and I could get straight off."

"That sounds good" Puck grinned, "I'll meet you here?"

"Sure" Shelby returned his smile, "but please check it's okay with your Mom tonight, I'll completely understand if she doesn't want a baby spoiling her weekend."

"Honestly, it won't be a problem" Puck saw the glare Shelby was giving him, "but I'll ask tonight anyway."

"Good" Shelby smiled, "now go get some lunch."

Puck knocked on Shelby's office door on Thursday afternoon, waiting for her to call him in before entering. "Noah" she smiled, "what can I do for you?"

"It's about this weekend."

Shelby's heart sank, "Okay, I understand."

"What?" Puck frowned

"Something's come up, it's okay I'll take Beth with me, thank you for letting me know."

"No, no, I still want to have her, I mean, I just wanted to ask if Beth had a swimsuit, my sister has swim classes on a Saturday morning and my Mom usually stays to watch, I thought me and Beth could splash about in the baby pool instead of waiting for them to come home." He explained.

"Oh" Shelby smiled, "I'll make sure I pack her swimsuit for you, she's got armbands too, I'll pack those."

"Thanks" Puck grinned, "I'll see you both tomorrow"

As promised Puck met Shelby in her office just minutes after the final bell rang on Friday, "Hey you." He scooped Beth into his arms and kissed her head softly as she buried her head in his shoulder.

"She's just woken up" Shelby explained, "she was late taking her nap."

"Oh right. Do you want me to try and get her back down when I get home?"

Shelby shrugged, "it's up to you, I'd probably try and keep her up and then put her to bed a little early tonight, if she has a nap now she probably won't sleep tonight."

"Are you going to be a grizzly little bear until bed time?" Puck tried tickling Beth to cheer her up but she batted his hands away and babbled in protest.

"She usually has a bath around 7 and then goes to bed about 7.30 8 ish. I packed some books for her, if you read her a story she should go down fine, but I've put a bottle in just in case. I've been trying to wean her off it, but if she really won't settle at night or she wakes early and won't go back down just fill it with regular milk and warm it in the microwave for about a minute. Make sure you shake it well before giving it her though so it doesn't burn her mouth and if you need me for anything call me, my parents are only an hour away, you've got my number right?"

Puck nodded, "I think we'll be fine. My mom's got the weekend off work and she's bought up two children so I should be good."

Shelby smiled, "I've put her swim things in there" she gestured to the large bag by her desk, "there's a pull up in there with fish on, she needs that on before she goes in the pool, a regular diaper will just soak up all the water." Puck nodded, "do you want me to fix the car seat in your truck?"

"Please." Noah always insisted Shelby fitted the car seat, he trusted himself to strap the young girl into the seat but not to install it properly. "I've been saving some money" he told Shelby, "I was thinking, if I'm gonna start taking her out a lot then maybe I should buy my own car seat for her, and I wondered if you'd come with me to make sure I get the right thing. Maybe next weekend or something?"

Shelby nodded, "sure."

She reached for the bags but Puck stopped her, "here" he passed Beth back, "I've got these." He picked up the large holdall and the bag containing Beth's travel cot, slinging them over his shoulders before picking up the car seat and carrying them out to his truck.

Shelby strapped Beth into the car seat and kissed her softly, noticing the young girl's eyes already starting to close. "You might have a hard time keeping her awake" she smiled. She turned from the car and saw Quinn talking with Santana outside the school, "I'd rather she didn't see Beth." Noah had told Shelby how Quinn had tried to set her up as a bad mother and now Shelby would do anything in her power to keep Quinn away from Beth.

"I don't think she'd dare come over" Puck told her before saying his goodbyes and taking Beth back to his house.

As predicted Noah's mom pounced on him almost as soon as he walked through the door, "oh look at her, she is so precious" She reached out for Beth but she clung tightly to Noah, burying her head in his shirt and shaking her head.

"She's just woken up Ma, give her some time to get used to you." He sat on the sofa with Beth on his knee, "do you want to play?" Beth shook her head and Noah looked at the clock, it was a little after four. "How about we give you some dinner and you have an early night."

Beth grinned sleepily, "Ninnins."

Noah settled Beth on the floor with the toys Shelby had packed before going to make Beth's dinner. He came back to find Beth curled into his sister's lap as she read to her. Beth smiled and held her arms out as she saw Puck come back into the room, quickly scrambling from Hannah's lap and making her way over to her father. "Are you having fun?" he asked, nuzzling his nose against her neck before blowing a raspberry on her bare skin.

Puck fed Beth before beginning to get her ready for bed. He left the bathroom after Beth's bath dripping from head to toe, convinced he was wetter than the young girl currently snuggled in a huge pink towel on his bed. He read her a story and sang her a lullaby before trying to place her in her travel cot, only to find that every time he lowered her into the cot her eyes would shoot open and she'd cry and cling to him. "Okay, okay" he sat her in the cot for a moment as he pushed his bed against the wall. "Come on" he lifted the now screaming child from the cot and rocked her gently, kissing her forehead as he tried to settle her once again. Once she was no longer screaming Puck pulled back the covers and laid Beth in the bed, climbing in beside her, stroking her stomach and singing softly to her until her eyes finally closed. "Sweet dreams" he whispered as he kissed her softly, laying pillows beside her to stop her falling from the bed before leaving the room.

"Is everything okay?" Puck met his mom on the stairs.

"Yeah" he ran his hand through his mohawk, "she cried every time I tried to lay her in the cot so she's sleeping in my bed.

Beth woke Puck the next morning by climbing onto his chest and placing sloppy kisses on his face. "Good morning to you too slober face" he grinned, rolling onto his side so Beth fell onto the mattress beside him he tickled her sides until she was shrieking with laughter and batting his hands away. "Lets get some breakfast, then we'll get our stuff ready because we're going swimming" he told her glancing at the clock to see it was almost 8am. "Thanks for not waking me up at 5" he kissed Beth's forehead as she wriggled in his arms babbling loudly. "Okay, I get it, breakfast" he laughed, leaving his room.

Shelby hadn't given Puck Beth's high chair, so he tried sitting her on cushions at the kitchen table but she fell off, he tried sitting her on the table but she kept crawling away so he settled on sitting her on his knee, the problem came when Beth decided she wanted to feed herself and Puck and Beth ended up wearing more cereal than Beth actually ate. He danced around the kitchen with Beth in his arms as he made himself some toast before taking Beth into the living room and setting her in front of her toys. Only when Beth had eaten some of Puck's breakfast too was Puck ready to get them dressed. "If you'd have eaten your cereal instead of throwing it everywhere you wouldn't have needed to eat my toast." He told her as he dressed them both and put the things they'd need to go swimming into a bag. "Now we've just got to wait for stinkyface and the old lady to be ready."

Puck had been surprised at how much Beth had loved the pool, she'd looked adorable in the frilly pink swimsuit Shelby had packed and it was like bath time all over again as Beth kicked and splashed. She'd enjoyed jumping into the pool, holding onto Puck's hands of course, and playing with some of the floating toys the pool had provided. She'd only cried when Puck had taken her out of the pool, she'd grabbed at his shoulder and tried to climb up his wet chest to get back into the water. "Hey, we can come again" he promised as he wrapped her in the large hooded towel he'd left by the pool, "and maybe next time Mama will come too."

Saturday afternoon was spent at a large indoor play centre which wasn't as busy as Puck had feared. He'd left Beth in the soft play area to sit with his mother, they both saw Beth fall and hit her head on one of the many large soft shapes and although they knew she wasn't hurt she began to cry anyway. Sarah Puckerman had the young girl in her arms before Puck had even got out of his chair, "shh, you're okay Beth" he told the young girl once he finally had her cradled in his arms, once he'd calmed her down and kissed her tears away Puck took her into the larger section of the play area, sitting her on his lap to go down the slide from the fourth level to the bottom level, both Beth and Puck laughing when Beth almost disappeared in the ball pool at the bottom of the slide. Unbeknown to Puck his Mom had taken many photos of her son and granddaughter enjoying their day together, photos that both Puck and Shelby would both come to cherish.

Noah woke on Sunday to Beth laying on his chest, singing to herself as she sucked on the first two fingers on her left hand, he turned to find it had gone nine, "we really wore you out yesterday eh?" He ran his fingers down her back, smiling when Beth turned her head to grin up at him. He laid in bed enjoying the time he spent with his daughter, the only sound in the room came from Beth as she occasionally babbled something incoherent. They stayed like that until Beth started to become restless and Noah took her downstairs for breakfast, deciding against cereal and making them both toast.

They spent the morning playing in the living room and the afternoon running around the local park until it was time for Puck to pack up Beth's things and take her back to Shelby.

"Mama" Beth grinned holding her arms out as Shelby opened the door to the her apartment.

Surprisingly Shelby didn't seem happy to have Beth back, she took the young girl into her arms but she looked anxious and worried. She stepped into the apartment and gestured for Puck to follow her. It was only once she was sure the door was shut and locked that she finally spoke. "Noah, I, I need you to look after her a while longer, please" she pleaded reaching for her purse. She grabbed a handful of notes and pushed them into Puck's hand, "Please" she turned her attention to Beth, "come on baby" she spoke softly, "you're going to stay with daddy for a while."

"Shelby" Puck had never been called daddy before, "I don't."

"Please Noah, you don't understand, I need you to take her, please, it won't, I don't, I can't explain Noah, please she can't be here, I'm begging you, please keep her safe." Shelby's face fell as she realised what she'd just said.

"Safe from what?" Puck asked but got no reply from the woman, "Shelby" he said firmly, "what is going on?" he tried to keep his voice level to avoid scaring Beth. "If Beth's in danger then I need to know what I'm keeping her safe from."

"I can't" Shelby shook her head, unable to meet Noah's gaze, "please just take her, keep her safe, I thought I could protect her but, but" she reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes, "I can give you more money Noah, I just need you to watch her for a while."

"Shelby" Noah reached out and took her chin in his hand, noticing she flinched at the contact, "what the. . ." Noah felt his blood pressure rise as he saw the bruise under Shelby's eye, the concealer she'd covered it with laid amongst the tear tracks on her face. "Oh my god Shelby", he used his thumb to wipe away more of her make up to reveal more bruises, some obviously older than the others. "What happened?"

"I, I fell down the stairs carrying a tray for my mom."

"I might not be an A+ student Shelby but I know that you don't get bruises like that falling down stairs, you get them after someone laid into you."

"Noah" Shelby collapsed onto the sofa hiding her head in her hands as she continued to sob.

"Listen" Noah sat beside her placing one hand on her back, "you are a brilliant Mommy to Beth, and me and Quinn, we let you adopt her because we knew you'd look after her and you'd bring her up well. You can't look after Beth if you're not looking after yourself."

"I've been seeing someone" Shelby confessed quietly, "he works away, I only see him at the weekends, he, he hurts me Noah" Shelby took in a shaky breath as she tried to compose herself, "Beth was cranky last weekend, he told me if I couldn't shut her up he'd shut her up for me. Beth's terrified of him Noah, she gets clingy, whenever she sees him the only thing she says is no no no. I can't, he's got time off work, he'll be back soon, please Noah, please take Beth."

Puck nodded, "Okay."

"Okay?" Shelby asked, "You'll take her?"

"I'll watch her yeah. But I'll need some more clothes and diapers and stuff, some toys would be good and if you want me to take her for a while I'd probably be best taking her high chair too"

Shelby nodded, "I'll go pack a bag." She hated that she was practically giving Beth away but she was relieved that Beth was going to be safe.

Puck nodded, he knew what he had to do and he knew he had to be quick. He slowly crept into Shelby's bedroom, finding a large suitcase by the wardrobe he laid it on the bed and began throwing clothes into the empty case, not even bothering the take them off the hangers or fold them. He didn't even stop when he tipped the entire contents of Shelby's underwear drawer into the suitcase before finding another bag and throwing in several pairs of shoes. He then moved to the bathroom and managed to fit most of Shelby toiletries and make up into the bag with her shoes. Satisfied that he'd not forgotten anything he placed the bags in the living room beside the bags he'd bought with him and sat to wait for Shelby.

"I've packed her. . ." Shelby's eyes were instantly drawn to the suitcase, "what's that?"

"Oh" Puck's face gave nothing away, "did I forget to say that if I take Beth I'm taking you too."

"I can't" Shelby dropped the bags and collapsed to the floor as she sobbed, "I can't make you do that" she whispered.

Puck was quick to fall beside her, "you're not making me do anything. My mom loved Beth and she'll love you. What sort of Daddy would I be if I kept my baby safe but let my baby's Mommy get hurt?" He pulled her into a hug but quickly pulled away when Shelby yelped in pain. He didn't even give her chance to explain before he reached out and lifted her t shirt. "Fucking hell Shelby" he couldn't help but swear when he saw the mass of bruises tainting her tanned skin.

"Noah, I, he".

"No" Puck said firmly, "do not try and make excuses for him. You need to get your shoes on and take Beth out to my truck" he passed her the keys, "I'll grab these bags and meet you out there. You said he'd be back tonight?" Shelby nodded, "right, I'll get you settled at home, my Ma's a nurse, she'll take a look at those, check he's not broken anything, then I'm coming back here to give the bastard a taste of his own medicine."

"Noah, please, I can't let him do this to you too."

Puck sighed, "I never thought I'd say this but if I'm not going to sort it out then we stop off at the police station on the way home and they sort him out."

"Please Noah, I"

"Shelby" Noah interrupted, "imagine for one minute that this was Rachel and some douche was hurting her, you'd want her to go to the police right?"

Shelby nodded "of course I would."

"There we are then, we can drop Beth off with my Ma then I'll take you to the police station, if you want me there that is?"

Shelby nodded again, "I don't think I could do it on my own."

"Right then" Puck helped Shelby from the floor, "let's go before he comes back and I do something I regret"

Puck loaded up his truck and drove Shelby and Beth to his house, he left them in the truck while he explained the situation to his mom and for a minute Shelby felt like running, but the sharp pain in her side whenever she moved convinced her to stay, and instead she closed her eyes and leant back against the seat, taking several deep breaths to stop the tears in her eyes for falling. She couldn't believe this was what her life had become, sure she had the daughter she'd always wanted, but she never imagined there'd come a time when the teenage father of their daughter would save them from a violent relationship.

"Hey" Puck spoke softly breaking her from her daydream, "my Ma's waiting for you in the living room, I'm going to get Beth settled upstairs then we'll go to the police station." He lifted Beth from her car seat and lead Shelby into the house "Ma, Shelby, Shelby this is my Ma" he introduced the two women.

"Mrs Puckerman, I"

"Call me Sarah please, Mrs Puckerman was my mother in law". Puck's mom smiled.

"Sarah, I don't, I said I'd be fine, I don't want to put you out."

"Nonsense, who says I'm not looking to some decent company, at the moment I've got a choice between Noah and a stroppy fourteen year old." She saw Noah standing in the corner of the room, "Go get Beth settled, I'll call you when you can come back down, make sure Hannah stays up there too." She said shooing him up the stairs before beginning to check Shelby over.

Puck settled Beth in the middle of his bed before grabbing some clean clothes from his wardrobe. He grabbed some extra blankets and a pillow from where his Mom kept them in the cupboard in the hall and knocked on his sisters door. "Clear some crap up Hannah" he said as he stepped into the room. "What are you doing?" he was puzzled as he saw his sister taking her own clothes from the wardrobe.

"I heard what you said to Mom, about Shelby."

"Yeah, she's going to be staying here for a while so you need to clear some crap up so I can crash on the floor, I'm not making her sleep on the couch."

"I thought I could share with Mom" Hannah explained, "then Shelby and Beth can have my room. I know it might be a squash with Beth's travel cot but it should fit, like you said I'll clear my crap up and change the sheets"

"Han, you don't have to."

Hannah shrugged, "I don't mind sharing with Mom, and I'm sure Shelby's more likely to take my bed when I've just moved to another bed down the hall, if she knows she's in your bed while you're on the floor I bet she won't be happy."

"Thanks" Puck smiled, "Oh and Ma said I've got to keep you upstairs until she says we can go down, she's making sure Shelby's okay."

Hannah smiled and squeezed Puck's arm, "She'll be okay now Noah, she's safe here."

Puck was surprised to feel his eyes fill with tears, "I'll go put these back" he gestured to the blankets, "and get you some clean sheets"

Puck helped his sister get her room ready for Shelby and Beth before moving some of her stuff into his mom's room, he then agreed his sister could put some of her clothes in his wardrobe to give Shelby more space for the items currently crumpled in the suitcase Puck had left in the truck. Hannah was shocked at the state of Noah's bedroom, she'd thought hers was a mess but Puck's was much worse even though he'd told her it was tidy before he'd collected Beth on Friday. They tidied Puck's bedroom and Sarah Puckerman was surprised to find not only two tidy bedrooms but her two children laughing and joking together as they played with Beth who was now wide awake.

"Noah, Shelby's ready to go now, I offered to go with her but she said she'd rather you go."

"Is she okay?"

Sarah nodded, "I think she's got a cracked rib but she won't go to the hospital, it'll hurt for a while, I've given her some painkillers but it should heal just fine."

Puck nodded "You're okay to watch Beth right?"

"We'll be fine, would you like me to set up her travel cot."

Puck nodded, "if you don't mind Ma, Shelby's going to sleep in Hannah's room"

"Hannah's room?" Sarah was confused but after Puck explained how his sister had volunteered to give up her bed to save him sleeping on the floor, she couldn't help but feel proud of how grown up her children were being, especially as they usually spent most of their time yelling at each other. Sarah reassured Hannah that it was okay for her to share her room and agreed to set up Shelby and Beth's stuff so they would feel more at home before telling Hannah she was in charge of watching Beth and sending Puck downstairs to take Shelby to the police station.

Shelby and Puck sat in the waiting room at the police station waiting for someone to speak to Shelby. Puck noticed her nervously tapping her foot and chewing her lip and he gently laid a hand on her knee smiling sadly as she took it in hers and held it like it was the only way things were going to get better. They sat in silence for about ten minutes before a young female police officer introduced herself and lead Shelby to an interview room down the corridor, "I'll wait right here" he promised before Shelby left.

It was almost an hour later when Shelby emerged from the room, it was obvious to Puck that she'd been crying and he ran down the corridor, taking her in her arms and lowering her to the floor when her legs failed to support her and she began to sob again. "Can we go now, they've gone to wait for him at the apartment, I don't want to be here when they bring him in."

"Yeah" Puck hated seeing the usually strong woman so broken, "do you think you can walk?"

Shelby nodded, "Thank you Noah" she said as he helped her into the truck, you didn't have to do this, I mean" her eyes filled with tears, "you're so young, I feel like I should be making sure you're okay, I should be watching out for you not, not this."

"I said I'd be there for you and Beth, I meant it Shelby, I didn't just mean I'd be there for the important things like Beth's first day at school or whatever, I meant I'll be there whenever you need me, and right now you need me. I want you to call me at 3am because Beth's got chicken pox and she won't stop scratching, I want you to call me at midnight because you've been out for a drink and you miss Beth, Birthdays, Christmas, Hanukkah, I'm there Shelby, I want to be Beth's Daddy, I've always wanted to be Beth's Daddy. I just hope I'm good enough for her."

"Noah" Shelby said quietly as she wiped at her eyes, "after today I have absolutely no doubt that Beth is lucky to have you."

Puck wiped at his own eyes, "look at us" he laughed, "I'm gonna call my Ma, see if she wants us to stop for take out on her way home."

Puck and Shelby walked into the house half an hour later to the sound of Beth's loud giggles, as she stepped further into the house Shelby saw her sat in the corner of the room with Hannah. Hannah kept trying to build a tower of Beth's blocks but she never got past four blocks before Beth reached out and sent the blocks tumbling to the floor, an event which had Beth laughing loudly, "is everything okay?" Sarah Puckerman walked over to her son and Shelby, taking some pizza boxes from them and placing them on the coffee table.

"Yeah" Shelby wiped at her eyes, "the police called me when we were waiting for the pizza, they found him waiting in my flat, he's been arrested and he won't get bail. They're adding resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer to the charges too."

Sarah smiled, "you're safe now" she pulled Shelby into a hug. "Beth got a little cranky earlier so I gave her some macaroni cheese for her dinner, I didn't know how long the two of you would be. I thought she could play for half an hour before her bath."

Shelby smiled, "That's fine."

It was at that moment Beth noticed Shelby, "Mama" she grinned, pushing herself to her feet and toddling over to Shelby, Hannah close behind.

"Pizza, great I'm starving." Hannah flopped onto the sofa and began opening the boxes.

"Hannah" Sarah scolded, "we have guests."

"Ninnins" Beth giggled struggling to get down.

"Hey" Shelby tickled Beth's side, "you've already had your dinner young lady."

Puck was quick to take Beth from Shelby, "come on Bee, one slice wont hurt you." He turned his attention to Shelby, "If you want to eat you better be quick, Han's like a hoover." He ducked quickly as his sister threw a scrunched up serviette at him.

"Hannah move up" Sarah told her daughter as Noah sat in the arm chair with Beth on his knee, "make room for Shelby". The older woman turned to Shelby, "come on" she gestured to the space on the sofa, "sit down, get some pizza, make yourself at home."

Shelby took a moment to take in the scene in front of her, Beth sat on Puck's lap happily helping herself to fries from the paper plate he was holding whilst Noah was arguing with Hannah over something and Sarah was trying to get them to shut up. They were a family, Beth was a part of that family and by extension so was she. She moved to sit beside Hannah and she knew that from that moment on she'd never have to go through anything alone again, the Puckermans wouldn't let her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Character**s - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Puck's sister (Hannah).

**A/N** -I doubt I'll update this regularly, probably just when I have a good idea for a chapter. That said if anyone has any suggestions for a chapter let me know, I'll write it!

Reviews/concrit are loved.

* * *

><p>"Noah" Shelby smiled to herself as he answered the phone. "I need you to, I need. What do I need Noah?"<p>

Puck frowned, Shelby sounded drunk, "Are you okay Shelby, have you been drinking?"

"I've not "Shelby suddenly remembered why she'd called the teenager, "I took some pills Noah, I fell on the ice and it really hurts so I took some pain killers but now I don't feel good, will you watch Beth? I don't know if I want to sleep or throw up."

Puck glanced out of the window, the earlier snowfall had stopped but it didn't look nice out, "I'll come over, do you think you'll be okay until I get there?"

"I, Noah, my head feels funny, like it's filled with cotton wool."

"I'm coming over." Puck quickly explained what had happened to his mom and the pair carefully made their way over to Shelby's, both thankful that she'd recently moved into a house just three streets away so they were able to walk instead of having to risk driving.

Noah and Sarah heard Beth crying before they'd had chance to knock, "you see to Beth, I'll deal with Shelby." Sarah said as Puck pushed the door open and let himself into the house.

"Hey baby" Noah found Beth stood in her cot, her face red, tears streaming down her cheeks as she screamed for Shelby, "shh, you're okay Beth" he bounced her slightly on his hip trying to settle her before he realised the reason for her distress and quickly changed her diaper.

"Noah" Sarah called from the sitting room, "I need you to get some towels and some dry clothes for Shelby , a vest top and a zip up hoodie if she's got one. And if she's got a first aid kit I'll need that too."

"I'll be right back" Puck told Beth as he put her in her playpen before collecting the things his mom had asked for and joining her in the living room. "Is she okay?" He saw Shelby lying on the sofa, "stupid question."

"Where did you get these?" Sarah asked Shelby as she studied the painkillers Shelby had taken.

"The hospital."

"What for?"

"I had apendi, apen" Shelby sounded confused and lifted her top slightly to reveal a small curved scar above her right hip bone, "I had surgery."

Puck grinned, "me too." He lifted his shirt to reveal an almost matching scar in an identical position.

"That is so amazing." Shelby smiled, reminding Puck of an excited Rachel.

"I need you to sit up for a while" Sarah told Shelby, "you need to get out of those wet clothes." It was only then that Puck realised Shelby was indeed wearing wet clothes, presumably from where she'd fallen in the snow, her hair was wet, there was a large clump of dried blood above her left eyebrow and her right wrist was swollen and bruised. Sarah turned her attention to her son, "can you boil some water, put it in a bowl with some salt, then pack a bag for Shelby and Beth and take Beth to our house, Hannah will watch her, I need you to bring your truck over so we can take Shelby to the hospital, I'm almost certain that her wrist is broken and she's probably going to need stitches in that cut."

Sarah carefully helped Shelby from her wet clothes before she dried her and helped her into the clean clothes. "Shelby" she spoke sternly, "I need you to keep your eyes open." She tried to examine Shelby's wrist but it was obvious the painkillers she'd taken weren't enough and she screamed out in pain at the slightest touch. "Okay" Sarah held her hands up to show Shelby she wasn't going to touch it again. "I'm going to put it in a sling to keep it still, do you think you can put your right hand on your left shoulder for me?" Shelby slowly did as she was told, grimacing in pain as her wrist came to rest on her chest. "That's it." Sarah then went on to look at Shelby's ankle, she'd noticed it was bruised as she'd help the woman change. Satisfied that it was only sprained she made her way into the kitchen, retrieving a bag of frozen peas to use as an ice pack.

"Mom" Noah placed the bowl of water on the coffee table beside Shelby's foot, "I'm taking Beth home now, I shouldn't be long."

Puck explained the situation to Hannah before he drove Shelby and his mom to the hospital. They'd been waiting in the emergency room for almost three hours when Sarah told her son to go home and check on Hannah and Beth, and after making sure his mom had change to call him from the payphone and enough money for a taxi home Puck left the hospital.

It was almost three am when Sarah and Shelby walked through the front door. Puck had been dozing on the couch and shot up as soon as he heard his mom's key scrape in the lock, "Is everything okay?" he asked quickly, "you've been gone ages."

"They gave her some morphine" Sarah explained, "she had a bit of a bad reaction to it. They wanted to keep her in over night but she wouldn't stay. I told the doctors I'd keep an eye on her for a couple of days."

"I was sick" Shelby began to sob, "please don't tell Quinn."

"I don't think it's quite worn off completely yet." Sarah explained as with Puck's help they moved Shelby over to the sofa where Puck allowed her to cry into him.

"Please don't tell Quinn that I was sick" she begged, "She'll think I'm a bad mother."

"The only thing I'm going to be telling anyone is that you're an awesome mom to that little girl. The hospital gave you some drugs your body didn't agree with, that's not your fault, it could have happened to me, my ma, hell it could even have happened to Quinn herself. You called me earlier as soon as you knew something was wrong. A bad mother wouldn't have bothered. You didn't ring me and demand I take you to the hospital Shelby, your first thought was to make sure Beth was okay."

"We should get you to bed Shelby" Sarah stood from the sofa, "it's late and you'll probably feel better when you've been able to sleep the morphine off a little."

"I've got her." Puck easily scooped Shelby into his arms, carrying her bridal style towards the stairs."

"I'll have her in with me." Sarah told him.

"Hannah's already in your bed Ma. She thought Shelby would be in her bed."

"Where's Beth? I don't know where Beth is." Shelby began to panic and Puck nearly dropped her.

"Steady Shelby, she's all tucked up in her ready bed in my room." He turned to his mom, "you look exhausted, I'll have her in with me if you want? I don't mind keeping an eye on her."

"She's got a pretty bad concussion" Sarah told him, "you'd have to wake up a couple of times and shake her a bit to make sure she responds."

"I can do that."

"Are you okay with that?" Sarah asked Shelby.

Shelby frowned, "I think I'm going to be sick."

Puck and Sarah got Shelby settled in Puck's bed and Sarah placed a bucket on the floor near Shelby's head before she gestured for Puck to follow her out of the room. "I meant what I said earlier Noah, you'll need to check on her every couple of hours, every hour if you can. Not only is she concussed but her blood pressure dropped when they gave her the morphine, she passed out for a while, that's why they wanted to keep her in overnight. I don't mind if you want to sleep in Hannah's room."

Noah shook his head, "you need to rest ma, I'll keep an eye on her. Do I need to wake her up?"

"No, just shake her shoulders. Gently. Call her name, if she reacts, flinches, rolls over, brushes you away, anything like that then it's fine, if she doesn't then try and wake her up. If you can't wake her come and get me, and if she wakes up in a lot of pain or anything just doesn't seem right I want you to wake me up straight away Noah."

"I will Mom."

Sarah nodded, "Right, now we just need to move Beth into my room and then we can both get some sleep." She saw Puck open his mouth to protest and held up her hand, "Even if we forget the fact Shelby will need your full attention I don't want Beth to be scared if she wakes up in the night and Shelby is being sick or crying in pain."

Noah knew his mom was right, and he managed to move Beth and her inflatable bed into his mom's bedroom without waking the sleeping girl before he changed in the bathroom and slipped into bed beside Shelby. "Noah, I don't feel. . ." Shelby didn't get chance to finish as she turned her head to the side and began to heave into the bucket.

"It's okay." He rubbed Shelby's back with his left hand, his right holding back her hair from her face and he grimaced when he finally heard her throw up into the bucket.

"I'm sorry Noah, I'm sorry."

"You've got nothing to be sorry for, Ma put the bucket there just in case this happened, you can't help being sick."

Shelby rolled onto her back, "the room's spinning Noah."

Puck sighed, "I'm going to empty the bucket, I'll be right back okay?" He climbed from the bed and emptied the bucket in the bathroom, he filled a glass with water and made his way back to his bedroom. "Here, sit up a little bit." He put the bucket on the floor and the water on the table by the bed before wrapping his arm around Shelby's shoulders and helping her sit up.

She sipped carefully from the glass before Noah laid her back on the mattress and pulled the sheets over her, "I feel horrible Noah. I don't want to feel like this, everything hurts Noah."

"Get some sleep" he told her, "you'll feel better in the morning."

The room was silent for a while before Shelby spoke again, "do you sing to Beth when you put her to bed?"

"Yeah" he smiled, "sometimes she's so tired she's asleep before I've laid her down but I usually sing something."

"Will you sing to me?"

"Okay." He thought for a moment before deciding on a song. "It's something my sister listens to, my taste in music is much better" he told her with a smile, making sure she was settled under the covers before he began to sing, _"If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea, I'll sail the world to find you. If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see, I'll be the light to guide you. Find out what we're made of, when we are called to help our friends in need. You can count on me like 1, 2, 3, I'll be there, and I know when I need it I can count on you like 4, 3, 2 and you'll be there 'cause that's what friends are supposed to do oh yeah. If you're tossin' and you're turnin and you just can't fall asleep. I'll sing a song beside you. And if you ever forget how much you really mean to me" _he paused and glanced over at Shelby, finding her fast asleep beside him, he sang softly _"Every day I will remind you." _ He leant over and brushed Shelby's dark hair back from her face before placing a gentle kiss on her cheek and setting the alarm on his phone for an hours time. "Sweet dreams" he whispered as he allowed his eyes to close.

Puck woke just 37 minutes after he closed his eyes to the sound of Shelby heaving in her sleep. He quickly but carefully rolled her onto her side, scared that she'd choke on her own sick or something, "Shelby" he shook her gently, "Shelby" he repeated louder than the first time. He wasn't expecting her eyes to fly open at the same moment she threw up into the bucket by the bed.

"Noah" her voice was shaky, "I don't feel well." She pulled the covers tightly around herself, "is it always so cold in here?"

Puck reached out blindly in the darkness, the back of his hand coming to rest on Shelby's forehead, "cold? Shelby you're on fire."

"I don't, Noah, I" she didn't get chance to finish as she leant over the side of the bed and threw up again. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay" he rubbed her back, "it's not your fault" he reached for the water from earlier that night and helped her drink before he emptied the bucket. He came back to find Shelby clinging to the bedsheets, "Shelby?"

"The room's spinning. I feel like I'm going to fall off the bed."

Puck sighed and brushed Shelby's hair off her face before placing a damp washcloth on her forehead. "Shelby" his voice was firm as she tried to protest, "if you take it off I'm going to tell my Mom you're burning up and she'll take you back to the hospital."

"I don't want to go back Noah, please." Shelby pleaded with him

"Keep that there then. " He climbed back into the bed, "you should try and sleep. It's like a hangover only from morphine not alcohol, if you're asleep you won't be able to feel dizzy." he explained rationally, "but I want you to sleep on your side please, I don't want you like choking on your own sick or anything."

Shelby fell asleep almost instantly but Noah didn't sleep, he spent the night watching over Shelby. He shook her gently every hour like he'd promised his mom, and he took Shelby's uninjured hand in his when at 6am she rolled onto her back and began scratching like mad in her sleep.

The clock on Puck's phone read 6.48 when he heard the door to his mom's bedroom open and he was only half surprised when he heard Hannah talking to Beth as they went downstairs. Hannah had been awake when Sarah and Noah had moved Beth into the bedroom and as she'd already had 4 hours sleep by the time Sarah got into bed she'd thought it only fair that she get up with the young child to allow her mother more sleep. His stomach growled loudly at 7.09 and he carefully wriggled out of the bed and made his own way downstairs.

"How's Shelby?" Hannah asked as she helped Beth eat her cereal.

Puck shrugged, "I dunno, she's still sleeping. She had a pretty rough night."

Hannah sighed and looked her brother up and down, "have you slept yet?"

He shook his head, "Shelby kept throwing up, a couple of times she didn't even wake up, I thought it was best if I kept an eye on her."

"Mom's going to kill you."

"She doesn't need to know Hannah."

"She'll find out Noah." Hannah paused for a minute, "why don't you get some sleep, I don't mind watching Beth til Mom wakes up."

"Thanks Han. I want to get something to eat first though." Almost right on cue his stomach growled again causing Beth to giggle and hold out a spoonful of cereal. "Thanks B" he smiled eating the cereal before ruffling his daughter's hair and moving over to the fridge.

"Sit down" Hannah told him, "I'll make you something, how about a sausage sandwich? Mom got those turkey sausages you like." Noah did as he was told, sitting down at the kitchen table and pulling funny faces at Beth, "do you want an egg on it too?"

Noah nodded, "you're a good kid Han."

"Go on" Hannah came into the kitchen a while later after she'd settled Beth with some toys, "go get some sleep, get to bed before Mom wakes up, I'll be fine with Beth."

"Thanks Hannah" Noah grinned reaching out and messing up Hannah's hair before he ran from the room laughing as she scolded him.

"Han, go check Noah and Shelby are okay please" Sarah called out to her daughter, "if they're awake ask them if they want anything to eat. While she wasn't suprised that Noah and Shelby were still sleeping at 11am, Hannah had told her Mom that Shelby had had a rough night, she was still worried about Shelby and wanted to know she was okay.

Hannah nodded and skipped up the stairs, knocking gently on Noah's door before pushing it open slowly. She looked into the room before calling Sarah from the top of the stairs, "Mom, you have to see this." Worried something was wrong, Sarah rushed up the stairs, "look Mom" Hannah pointed into Noah's room.

"He makes out he's so tough but he's such a big softie." Sarah smiled as she took in the sight before her. As usual her son was laid on his back, sprawled out across the bed, but now Shelby was curled into his side, her head on his shoulder, her right arm across his stomach, her right leg between his. What surprised her most though was the fact Puck had his right arm wrapped posessivley around Shelby's middle, pulling her into him.

Noah woke first. He yawned and tried to stretch out, but a heavy weight against his right side stopped him. He couldn't help but smile as he saw Shelby laid against him, happy that they'd both managed to get a couple of hours of uninterrupted sleep, and he unconsciously began to comb his fingers through her hair, mindful of the cut above her eye. He could hear Hannah and Beth giggling downstairs and his Mom telling them to be quiet. A door slammed and Shelby jumped in her sleep before her eyes fluttered open sleepily. "Hey" Noah whispered, "How you feeling."

"Rough" Shelby smiled sadly before closing her eyes again, only for them to flick open suddenly moments later, "What, Noah, what happened last night, why am I in your bed?"

"Don't you remember?"

"No, I, your mom took me to the hospital, then I don't know, it's all cloudy, what happened?" Shelby began to panic, she couldn't remember how she'd ended up in bed with a boy half her age, "Noah, what happened?"

"Shh, calm down. You fell on the ice, you called me and said you'd taken some pain killers and didn't feel well, we came over and my Ma decided to take you to the hospital, I came back here with Beth, you didn't get back til like 3am. Ma said you had a bad reaction to morphine, Hannah was already in mom's bed so I said you could sleep in here and I'd watch you so you didn't I dunno, choke on your own sick or something."

"Oh God, I was sick" Shelby lifted her hand to cover her face but winced when she felt the weight of the pot.

"You were sick a lot" he told her, "and you've got a sprained ankle and" he paused for a second as he counted, "three stitches in your head."

"Oh God" Shelby closed her eyes, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be" Puck smiled, "I said I'd be there for you, I meant it Shelby. Now I'm going to tell my Ma you're awake so she can come and make sure you're okay. You passed out at the hospital and you said you felt dizzy last night."

"Where's Beth?"

"Downstairs with Han and my mom. I'll be back in a minute."

True to his word Puck came back to the room just minutes later with Sarah close behind. "How are you feeling this morning? Any dizziness?"

Shelby shook her head, "Noah said I woke feeling dizzy in the night."

"Yeah, she said the room was spinning" Puck told his mom, "She was sick a lot and then she woke up saying she was freezing but she was burning up, I got her some water and a cold wash cloth and she cooled down a bit. And then she didn't wake up but she was scratching like mad."

Shelby blushed but Sarah nodded, "Okay, do you still feel nauseous?"

"Yeah" Shelby admitted, "but not like I'm going to be sick. I've got a real headache. It feels like someone's kicked me here" she gestured to the side of her head.

"I'll get you some painkillers in a minute. Do you want to try and sit up?" Shelby nodded and without prompting Puck moved back to 'his' side of the bed and helped Sarah move Shelby into a more upright position. "How are you feeling now?" Sarah asked, "any dizziness? Light-headedness? Has the nausea got worse?"

"I feel a little bit light headed" Shelby said truthfully, "but it's not too bad, I ache everywhere though."

"Right, I'm going to bring you some breakfast up because you can't take the pain killers on an empty stomach, then I'll wrap your cast in a garbage bag and you can have a bath, you had a nasty fall yesterday, a warm bath might help stop things aching and then we'll see how you feel. However, your wrist is going to be in plaster for at least four weeks, maybe six. You've got to go back to the hospital after the weekend so they can put a proper cast on, that one's only temporary until the swelling goes down I think you should stay here until you're out of plaster, it's going to be hard for you to bath yourself even if you get a waterproof cast bathing Beth will be almost impossible, Hannah's going to clear her room out for you."

"Not that I mind you and Bee staying here" Sarah and Shelby had almost forgotten Puck was in the room, "but if you want to go home I wouldn't mind coming round to bath Beth when you need me too."

Sarah nodded, "I still want you to stay here for a couple of nights, you've had a head injury and a serious reaction to a strong painkiller. I'd rather be overcautious than let you go home tonight only for you to pass out and fall down the stairs or something."

Shelby nodded, agreeing for once that she needed someone to take care of her, for a couple of days at least, "thank you." Her stomach rumbled loudly, "now I believe someone mentioned breakfast."

As promised after breakfast Sarah taped a garbage bag around Shelby's fractured wrist and let her soak in a warm bath filled with relaxing bubbles. She'd promised Sarah she'd leave the door unlocked and after she'd soaked for fifteen minutes she wasn't surprised that someone tapped on the door. "Yeah?" she called, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

"It's me" she was surprised to hear Puck outside the door, "I wondered if you needed some some help washing your hair or something."

Shelby inhaled deeply, she had wondered how she was going to wash her hair, she could feel the dried blood in it but it seemed physically impossible to do with one hand and whilst she didn't want Puck to see her naked, she thought it would be more embarrassing for Sarah or Hannah to help her. "That'd be great" she finally told him.

She sat forward when Puck asked her too and spoke only when he asked her if the temperature of the water from the shower was okay for her. He took his time washing her hair, being careful to avoid getting either water or shampoo in her cut, his mom had already warned Shelby to keep the stitches dry. She was surprised when he applied conditioner after he'd rinsed the shampoo, even massaging her scalp before spreading the conditioner through her long locks. "Is that everything?" he asked once he'd rinsed the conditioner from her hair.

"Erm, there is one other thing" Shelby blushed.

"Yeah?"

"Could you shave my legs? I mean I'm right handed, I'm worried I'd just end up cutting myself to shreds if I tried it with my left hand" she tried to make light of the situation.

"Sure." He stepped over to the bathroom cupboard, taking out his sisters fruity shaving foam and a brand new pink razor. He started with her left leg, massaging the shaving foam into her skin, trying to loosen her tense muscles before he began to shave the foam away. If you asked Puck he'd tell you that Shelby didn't even need her legs shaving, there was no stubble or anything but he told her he'd help her whenever she needed something and he wasn't going to let her down over something as simple as this. "All done" he smiled once he'd finished.

"Noah" Puck could tell Shelby was embarrassed by something.

"Yeah?"

"It's, I mean, my ankle, I don't know if I'll be able to stand up and get out."

"Do you want to get out now or would you rather I came back in a bit?"

"Could you come back?"

Puck knocked on the bathroom door again ten minutes later, "are you ready to get out yet?" he asked as he poked his head around the bathroom door. Shelby nodded and Puck stepped further into the room, his own blue dressing gown scrunched up in his hand. "I thought if I stood behind you I could help you stand up in the bath, then you could put this on and I could help you out and you'd still keep most of your dignity." He reached into the water holding on to her waist as he helped her stand, keeping his eyes fixed firmly on her shoulders as she rose unsteadily from the bath before slipping the dressing gown onto her shoulders and waiting patiently as she tied the belt. He watched her struggle to step from the bath, unable to put too much weight on her swollen ankle. "Here" he slid one hand behind her knees and the other around the small of her back, lifting her from the warm water Shelby clutched the robe tightly closed as Puck carried her bridal style down the hallway before sitting her on Hannah's bed. "We've put your clothes in the wardrobe."

He turned to leave the room so she could change but he'd only just reached the door when she called him back with the words he always hated to hear. "Noah, I think we need to talk."

"Now?" He turned to face her and she nodded slowly, "I'll just get you a towel" he noticed her hair dripping on to the bed, "I'll be right back." He returned moments later with the promised towels, he placed one on the bed beside her and moved to dry her hair with the smaller one, "Hanna's hairdryer is there" he pointed to the chest of drawers by the door where his sisters zebra print hairdryer and straighteners sat, "she says you're welcome to use it and you've got to shout her if you need help." He paused for a moment before moving to sit beside her, "now what did you want to talk about?"

"Us" she whispered quietly as she played with a loose thread on the dressing gown, "what are we? What do you want from me? I mean I know you promised you'd be there for Beth but. . ."

That was where Noah cut her off, "I promised I'd be there for both of you. Like I said before you're Beth's Mommy, I can't just take her when things get rough and leave you to fight your own way out. If I'm there for Beth I'm there for you too. And for the record I don't want anything from you, except for you to carry on loving my little girl like you do."

"You kissed me" Puck could tell Shelby was scared of how he'd react.

"You kissed me back" he said truthfully, "look at me Shelby." She slowly lifted her eyes to meet his, "I don't regret it." There was silence for a minute before Puck asked, "do you?"

"No, yes, no." Shelby paused to get her thoughts in order, "I'm a teacher Noah, you're a student, morally and legally it was wrong but" her gaze dropped from his again, "I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it."

Puck couldn't help but smile. "Look" he took Shelby's good hand in his, "I don't usually do this mushy stuff so I'm only going to say this once." He saw a smile begin to appear on Shelby's lips. "I feel something for you, I don't know what that is though" the smile fell from Shelby's face but he didn't stop, "II don't know what it is because it's something I've never felt before. I, you've probably heard about my reputation, but I swear on Beth's life there haven's been any cougars since you said I could see her. Usually when I'm with a woman, a cheerio, whoever, I fuck them and I leave, but I don't see that when I see you. I don't see a woman I could get a decent fuck from once a week and I don't want you to think that's because you're not hot or anything cos you're fucking smokin Shelby. I, I guess I see you and there's a part of me that just wants to hold you and protect you, be your knight in shining armour and all that. I want to cuddle on the sofa with you when it's cold outside and I want to hold your hand as we walk through the park, Beth kicking up the leaves as she skips along in front of us. I don't know if it seems right because it's Beth and she's my daughter or if it feels right because it's you and you're well you. I want you to be happy and if you find someone else that makes you as happy as I want you to be then I'll be okay with that. As long as I could still see Beth." There was an awkward silence once he'd finished and Puck squeezed Shelby's hand, "this is where you're meant to tell me to check I've not grown a vagina."

Shelby giggled, "I think it took a lot of balls for you to admit that. And Noah, no matter who I was with I would never stop you seeing Beth." She took her hand from Puck's to wipe a way a tear he'd not even seen fall. "I like being with you, I like that everything seems so simple, I know you're not going to hurt me like, like, you know, you're a brilliant dad to Beth and I love seeing you two together but it's not that simple is it? Like I said I'm a teacher, you're my student, not to mention I've got a daughter your age."

"You're not my teacher". He said simply.

"That doesn't matter." Shelby sighed, "waking up this morning with you there, knowing you didn't expect anything in return" her eyes filled with tears, "I can't remember the last time that happened unless it was with Beth."

"Hey" Puck pulled her into his arms, "you deserve to be treated like a princess, and I know I don't earn much but I'll do my best to treat you like you deserve."

"Noah" Shelby didn't lift her head from his chest, "let's wait until you've finished high school yeah and then we'll talk again. You can keep coming round to see Beth, but, oh I don't know" she said frustratedly, "I don't know what I want."

"Look." Puck tried to calm Shelby down, "you've had a rough couple of days, let's leave it for a while, until you're feeling better. Han's moved her stuff into Mom's room so tonight you can sleep in here or if you want to share again then that's fine, I'm not going to push you into anything. I'm going to leave you to get changed now but if you need help drying your hair or anything I'll just be downstairs." He kissed her forehead and wiped away her tears, "enough crying" he told her, "it'll all work out in the end."

Puck's mom called took him into the kitchen for a 'word' almost as soon as his foot hit the bottom step. "What's going on with you and Shelby?" she asked, "I saw the two of you earlier."

Puck sighed, running his hand through his mohawk as he sat down at the kitchen table. "I've just had this conversation with Shelby. We didn't sleep together last night, I mean we slept, well she did, but I didn't, we didn't have sex."

"Hannah told me you were awake all night watching her."

Puck nodded, "I fell asleep about 8am"

"You love her don't you?" Sarah asked knowingly.

"I think I do" he admitted, "but we've agreed to leave things as they are until I've finished school."

Sarah nodded, "I've never seen you like this before Noah, I know she's a teacher and you're a student, but if the two of you are happy together I'll give you my full support, but you have to realise it's not just the two of you, there's Beth to think of too, anything between you and Shelby will affect her too. You have to work out whether it's better for you and Shelby to stay friends and for the three of you to be happy or to risk a romantic relationship and ruin the relationship you have now if things don't work out."

"I know. Shelby's really confused at the moment, I've told her we can talk again when she's feeling better. I just want her to be happy Ma."

"I know you do, and I know you'll do the right thing for Beth and Shelby." Puck nodded and Sarah pulled her son into a hug. "I'm proud of you Noah"

"Ma" Puck pushed his mom away as he felt himself tearing up, "are you okay to watch Beth? I'm gonna go take a nap."

Puck knocked on Hannah's door as he made his way to his room. He didn't get a response and slowly pushed the door open to find Shelby sleeping on the bed, still wearing nothing but his dressing gown. "Shelby" he whispered shaking her shoulders gently until she woke slightly, he scooped her easily into his arms and pulled back the covers on the bed before laying Shelby back down and pulling the sheets over her. "Night Shelby" he whispered as her eyes fluttered closed again. He placed a gentle kiss on her cheek, "we'll be okay Shelby, whatever happens we'll be okay."

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><p><strong>AN** - If/when I write another chapter would you like to see Noah/Shelby become something more than friends?


	3. Chapter 3

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Character**s - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Puck's sister (Hannah).

**A/N** -This is set after Shelby and Puck kissed but they haven't had sex (yet!)

I had the idea for this when I was looking after my poorly nephew and I don't really have any other ideas for it at the moment so if you want me to write another chapter and you have an idea let me know, I'll do my best to write it.

A reviewer said they would like Shelby to be more independent and doing things for herself like she does in the show, I get that she's a bit 'needy' in this fic but the way I see this going is a series of semi-related one shots where Shelby swallows her pride and asks Noah for help. I get that she's fiesty and independent on the show but sometimes the people that seem the toughest are also the most vulnerable and in my head Coach Corcoran and Mommy Shelby are polar opposites and this fic is about Mommy Shelby not Coach Corcoran. I hope that explains the OOC-ness :)

Reviews/concrit are loved.

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><p>"Urgh" Noah groaned as his phone began vibrating on the table by his bed, he forced his eyes open only to see the clock beside his bed taunting him, 8.43am. "Hello" he finally answered the phone and threw his arm over his eyes, he really needed to buy thicker curtains or a blind or anything to stop his eyes burning from the light.<p>

"Noah"

"Shelby" he could hear Beth crying in the background and he quickly sat up in bed, "is everything okay?"

"Are you doing anything?"

"Y'know, just sleeping." He blinked a couple of times and yawned, "why?"

"Could you come over, Beth's sick."

"What? Does she need a doctor? My mom's at work do you want me to call her?" Puck jumped out of bed pulling a clean pair of boxer shorts from his drawers and choosing a pair of jeans from the floor.

"No, no, she's okay, she's just a bit sniffly and she's got a slight temperature but she's been up since 2am Noah, I can't, I'm so exhausted, every time I put her down or stop rocking her she screams." Shelby took a deep breath, she hated asking anyone for help, "if you're not busy could you maybe come and watch her for an hour so I could get some sleep?"

Puck was already halfway down the stairs, he knew his mom was at work and Hannah had spent the night at a friend's house so he didn't need to leave a note, "I'm on my way Shel, I'll be two minutes."

"Thank you Noah " Shelby sighed in relief as she hung up the phone and took a deep breath before heading back over to the playpen holding her screaming daughter, "shh" she took Beth in her arms and kissed her warm forehead, "you're okay baby, Daddy's on his way over it's okay."

Beth looked up at Shelby, "Dadda?"

"Mhmm" Shelby bounced Beth on her hip and yawned, "Daddy's going to watch you so Momma can get some sleep" Beth sniffed and rubbed her own tired eyes, "hopefully he'll get you to sleep too".

By the time Puck arrived Shelby was slumped exhaustedly on the sofa with Beth against her chest whimpering and whining quietly. "Hey pretty girl" Puck didn't knock, he just walked straight into the house and lifted Beth from Shelby's chest, "Momma said you're not feeling well" he lifted his hand to feel her forehead, "oh baby" he sighed.

"Momma" Beth mumbled around the fingers in her mouth.

"Yeah, you've worn her out haven't you, you're meant to sleep at night kiddo" he smiled before he kissed her hair, "let's let her sleep."

He'd not seen Shelby lazily open one eye as he lifted Beth from her chest and watch him interact with the toddler, "Momma's awake" she yawned as she stood from the sofa.

"Well" Noah turned to face her, "Momma needs to get in bed and get some sleep doesn't she?" Noah smiled.

Shelby smiled tiredly, "there's some medicine for her in the fridge, if I'm not awake can you give her some more at 10am there's a syringe on the draining board, she needs 5ml."

"5ml at 10am, we can remember that can't we." He looked at the child in his arms struggle to keep her eyes open, "what if she's asleep? Do I need to wake her up?"

Shelby shook her head, "if she's asleep leave her, she can have it when she wakes up."

"Okay" Puck stepped closer to Shelby and tucked her dark hair behind her ears, "go to bed, you look exhausted."

"Thanks" Shelby laughed, "look, thanks for coming over, I'll set my alarm" she glanced at the clock on the microwave, "I'll be up for 10.30".

"Don't be stupid. You need more than an hour, take as long as you need me and Beth will be fine."

"Thank you Noah, I erm, I'd forget about her potty for today" Shelby had recently started trying to potty train Beth, "if she asks then that's fine but don't force her, if she uses her diaper then I really don't mind."

"Tell her Beth" he tickled her stomach gently, "Tell her to go to bed and we'll be just fine."

"Momma bed" Beth nodded, "Dada bekbek."

Noah had never heard Beth call him Dada before and he couldn't help but grin for a moment before frowning at Shelby, "bekbek?" he asked.

"Breakfast" Shelby clarified, "I'll just make her. . ."

"No" Noah interrupted taking Shelby's hand in his and leading her up the stairs, "I'll make Beth's breakfast, you" he pulled back the covers and gestured to her bed "will get in there and sleep until at least lunch time. Say night to Momma Bethy".

"Bedtime Momma." Beth mumbled, "tisses." Noah frowned again, not understanding what Beth meant until Shelby leant forward and covered Beth's face in kisses, "Momma no" Beth snuggled into Noah's chest, "Momma tisses fo' Dada."

"I erm" Shelby blushed, obviously flustered at her daughters request.

Puck however wasn't quite as bothered, he leant forwards and brushed his lips against Shelby's cheek, "g'night" he smiled as he pulled away, pulling the blankets straight once she was in bed, "I'll see you later" he told her, closing the curtains before leaving the room."

"So" he turned his attention to Beth, "do you want breakfast?" Beth nodded against his chest and he carried her into the kitchen, "come on Bee" he tried to sit her in her high chair but she began to squirm and kick.

"No, Dada no" she begin to cry and scream.

"Okay okay" he lifted her back to his hip, "don't wake Momma." He walked around the kitchen like it was his own, placing bread in the toaster and filling Beth's favourite cup with milk. She smiled up at him, her eyes shining with unshed tears, "oh Princess" he sighed running his hand through her blonde curls, "you need to get better soon" he hated seeing his daughter ill, even if it was just a cold. He carried her over to the table once he'd buttered their toast, "you're okay" Beth began to fidget and whine as he approached the table, "I'm not going to put you in there" he kissed her head before sitting at the table with Beth on his lap, "here we go" he smiled, kissing her again before passing her toast.

By the time they'd finished their toast it was just after 10. Puck shrugged and made his way over to the fridge. He filled the syringe with the pink liquid and Beth opened her mouth obediently, "come on Princess, let's put some cartoons on and try and get some shuteye." He took Beth's favourite stuffed bear, the one he'd bought her before she was born, and her favourite blanket from her playpen before turning on the tv and settling himself on the sofa. He tried sitting Beth beside him but she immediately climbed back onto his lap. "Okay baby." Puck moved some of Shelby's fancy cushions to the end of the sofa so he could lie down with Beth on his chest, "lets get some sleep." Beth put up a fight at first, wriggling on his stomach and trying to climb off but Puck didn't give up, "come on baby" he began to rub her back, "it's time to sleep, I'm tired and I know you are too." Beth started to whine and push against her father's chest, "No Bee" Puck laid her down and reached for the remote, flicking through the channels until he found a show he knew Beth liked, "look Bee" Beth took a shaky breath and let out a small cry before settling down on his chest and beginning to suck on her fingers, a habit he and Shelby were trying to break, but she was sick, if sucking on her fingers helped her get the sleep she so desperately needed, he'd allow it just this once. "Good Girl" Noah smiled kissing her blonde curls as she finally drifted into dreamland.

Shelby woke several hours later, her alarm clock read 2.33pm and she leapt from her bed, racing down the stairs two at a time only to find Noah and Beth sleeping on the sofa, or so she thought, "we're fine" Noah said without opening his eyes, "you should probably get something to eat."

"Would you mind if I took a shower?"

"Do what you need to do" he told her, his eyes still firmly shut, "make the most of the time she's asleep."

Shelby nodded and for the first time noticed Beth's pink blanket was draped over the small girl but did nothing to cover Noah. She walked carefully over to the empty sofa and took the large cream throw she'd been wrapped in earlier that morning and laid it over Noah and Beth. She took a deep breath before crouching down and kissing his cheek, "thank you Noah."

Puck smirked as she walked away, "Shelby" he called after her

"Yeah?"

"Clean your teeth too, you've got epic morning breath".

Shelby heard the jokey tone to his voice, "idiot" she mumbled, heading back upstairs to her shower.

Beth woke shortly after Shelby had left the room. Puck was happy to let her lie on his stomach as he gently stroked her back until she began to get restless. It was then that he pulled the covers back and moved over to the changing unit in the corner of the room. He changed his daughter's diaper and changed her pyjamas for a pair of navy leggings and a white t-shirt dress with navy polka dots that he found in the basket of clean clothes Shelby kept in the changing unit. "Eww, eye bogies" he laughed as he wiped a baby wipe over Beth's face and hands before lifting her easily onto his hip and carrying her through to the kitchen. He took a moment to read the label of Beth's medicine before counting on his fingers and deciding it was safe to give her another dose. Once she'd swallowed the medicine he sat her on the sideboard, his hands either side of her to stop her falling, "now Beth" he said seriously, "Momma's in the shower and I want to make us all some lunch before she gets out, can you play nicely on your own for a while?" He ran his fingers through her hair, "I know you're not feeling well but I'll be right here okay." He lifted her back onto his hip before carrying her over to her playpen, making sure she'd be able to see the tv and the kitchen he turned on cartoons before setting Beth and several toys inside. As soon as he straightened up Beth pulled herself to her feet, shaking the side of the playpen as she began to scream. "You're okay Beth, I need to make some lunch." He reached for the tv remote and turned on a cartoon before turning up the volume, "look Beth" he ran his hand over her hair as she quietened somewhat and turned her attention to the tv.

She was stood in the playpen watching tv when Shelby came into the room a while later, she'd stopped crying but tears were still damp on her cheeks and she let out the occasional sniffle. "Hey baby" Shelby smiled as she walked towards the playpen.

"Momma" Beth whimpered and held her hands out for Shelby to pick her up.

Shelby complied and soon had Beth sat on her hip, "where's Dadda eh?" Shelby asked Beth as she snuggled her head into her mother's neck. "Hey" she smiled as she found Noah in the kitchen, "what are you doing?"

"Pasta" he grinned turning to face her, "I thought we could all do with something to eat."

"Can I help?"

"Nope, it's almost done, you just sit down. I found out at breakfast that Beth's not keen on her high chair right now."

"She's always clingy when she's sick" Shelby told him moving over to the fridge.

"I gave her some of the medicine when she woke up" Noah told Shelby and she nodded and moved back towards the table.

"How much sleep did you guys get?"

"I got about two hours, Beth got about three and a half, she wasn't as grumpy when she woke up" he told her as he placed three bowls on the table, "do you want me to take her so you can eat?"

Shelby shook her head, "I'm okay, I've got used to feeding us both together."

A content silence filled the room as the unconventional family ate their meal, Noah was first to speak, "I've been thinking."

"Don't hurt yourself" Shelby smirked.

"Hey" Noah laughed, "I thought, well, if you wanted, I don't have any plans, I could crash here tonight, just on the couch, then if Beth has another bad night we could sort of take it in turns, I could sit with her while you slept for a couple of hours then we could switch, it'd make things easier on you."

"I, Noah" Shelby was speechless, "you don't have to do that, I'll be fine, like you said she's not as grumpy any more I should be able to get her down tonight."

"I couldn't even get her in her high chair earlier and she screamed when I put her in her playpen so I could make us some food."

Shelby sighed, "I can't ask you to do that though, you're young you should be out at parties and things."

"I'm Beth's Dadda, I should be helping her Momma look after her when she's sick." Noah sighed, "look Shelby, I know we said we'd wait until after I graduate but that's only a couple of weeks away. I want to be with you Shelby and yeah, I could see us living together. If that, if we do that I'm going to be here when she's sick, when you're sick. Even if we don't get together I'm still going to be around, you need to get used to that and let me in."

"Noah" Shelby had tears in her eyes, "I want to be with you"

"But"

"But whilst I love being with you, I love the idea of us being together, being a real family with Beth, knowing I have a daughter your age, a daughter that is five weeks older than you, it feels wrong Noah."

"Which wins out?" He asked without thinking before quickly speaking again, "you don't have to answer that, we agreed to wait til I'd graduated, I can wait."

Shelby took a deep breath, "I want to be with you Noah but I still want to wait until you've officially graduated."

Noah couldn't keep the smile from his face as he reached over the table and took Shelby's hand in his, "I've waited almost a year for you Shelby, I can cope with another couple of weeks."

"I'm going to go get some stuff from home." Noah spoke a while later, "do you want to come? We could walk over, the fresh air might do Beth some good."

"Yeah" Shelby nodded, "that sounds good, I just need to change, can you get Beth ready in the buggy?"

Shelby came back downstairs five minutes later to find Beth sat in her buggy giggling quietly, her hands tugging on her father's mohawk as he blew raspberries into the side of her neck, "Oh no" Noah gasped in mock horror as he pulled away slightly, Beth's fingers still tangled in his hair, "it's the giggle monster." Shelby stood watching Noah and Beth for a while as he did all he could to make the young girl smile, she'd been stood on the stairs for almost a full five minutes before Noah glanced up and saw her watching them, "look Beth" he span the buggy round so she was facing Shelby, "Mommy's here to save me from the giggle monster."

Shelby laughed and shook her head, "I don't know which one of you is the biggest kid."

"Well" Noah sighed, "I'm about 6 feet tall, Beth's like what? 2 and a half/3 feet? I think we can all say I win at being the biggest."

Shelby rolled her eyes, "you're an idiot, tell him Beth" she leant forward and tickled Beth's stomach, "tell Daddy he's silly."

Beth shook her head, "my Dadda."

"I'm not saying he's not yours, I'm saying he's a silly billy."

"No" Beth insisted, "my Dadda."

Shelby stood turned to face Noah, her 'Coach Corcoran' look firmly in place, "you've brainwashed my daughter."

He laughed and took hold of the buggy, "she just knows I'm cooler than you" he smirked before running from the house with Beth before Shelby could respond.

"Bubbe" Beth whispered as they approached Noah's house, he Shelby and Sarah had been trying to get Beth to call Sarah Grandma, and whilst Shelby and Noah knew Sarah would prefer Beth to use the Yiddish term, Beth had refused to use either, instead just giggling and shaking her head every time someone tried to get her to say it.

"Did she just...?" Shelby turned to Noah and he nodded, "say it again my clever girl" Shelby crouched down beside the buggy, "who are we going to see?"

Beth pointed to the house, "Bubbe a' Nannah".

"Bubbe and Hannah that's right" Shelby lifted Beth onto her hip, "let's go and see Bubbe." They walked into the house and were greeted by Sarah, "who is it Beth?" Shelby asked as she passed Beth to Sarah.

"Bubbe" Beth whispered shyly as she buried her head in Sarah's neck.

Sarah gasped, "oh my clever little girl, is that the first time?"

"She said it outside" Noah told her, "when we got close to the house, then Shelby asked who we were going to see and she said Bubbe and Hannah."

"Bubbe a'Nannah" Beth repeated.

"Oh" Sarah kissed Beth's head, "you're such a clever little thing." She laid the back of her hand against Beth's forehead and turned her attention to Shelby, "she's warm."

"She's not well" Shelby told her, "I don't think it's serious though, she's been a bit sniffly and really cranky but her temperatures starting to go down."

Sarah nodded, Beth didn't seem to be acting too differently to normal so she wasn't too worried about the young girl, "that's why we're here" Noah told his mom, "Shelby called this morning to say Beth had had her up all night, I went over to watch her so Shelby could get some sleep. I said I'd stay over tonight so Shelby can get some sleep, I need to get some stuff."

"I said he didn't need to." Shelby added, "I'm sure I'd be able to manage on my own."

"Nonsense" Sarah interrupted, "he wants to be Beth's father, he can't just be there when things are going well. Go and get your things Noah." She waited until she was sure he was upstairs before turning to Shelby, "now he's out of the way you can tell me what's playing on your mind."

"Nothing's playi..."

Sarah held up her hand to stop Shelby, "I've bought up two children Shelby, you can't fool me."

"Noah said he wants to be with me." Shelby knew she couldn't lie to Sarah, she'd not known the woman for long but they'd soon become friends.

"I thought you knew that already" Sarah frowned, "he said he'd spoken to you when you stayed over here after you fell."

"We did."

"So what's the problem?"

"I think I want to be with him too." Shelby admitted, "and while I love being around Noah, I'm old enough to be his mother, I shouldn't, he could have any girl he wants Sarah, he doesn't need me holding him back."

Sarah sighed and passed Beth back to Shelby before leading her over to the sofa, "you won't be holding him back Shelby, and while I can't tell you why, I can tell you that Noah's always preferred older women and I can tell you that since he, well since you and he started this whatever it is, his pool cleaning business has been strictly about cleaning pools. He cares about you Shelby, I've never seen him like this about anyone, he's grown from a boy to a man since you've been in his life." She took a deep breath, "as his mother can I just ask you one thing?" Shelby nodded, "if you're going to let him down, please do it gently, I know he makes out that he's tough but he's not, and please, even if you don't want to be involved romantically with him, please don't take Beth away, it would kill him to loose you both."

"I won't, whatever happens between Noah and I, I won't ever stop him seeing Beth, that would hurt her just as much as it would hurt him, he's so good with her." Shelby sighed and felt tears form in her eyes, "he deserves someone who can give him more children."

"Shelby" Sarah said sternly, "Noah knows you adopted Beth because you couldn't have any more children right?" Shelby nodded, "so he's made his decision with that in mind. If more children were so important to him he wouldn't have made the decision he has."

"He might not be bothered now, but what if in 5, 10 years time when all his friends are starting families, what if he changes his mind?"

"I thought maybe we could look at adopting more children or something." Noah spoke as he walked over to the sofa, neither Shelby or Sarah had heard him come downstairs.

"How, how long have you been standing there?" Shelby asked.

"Long enough" he crouched down in front of her and wiped at her tears, "I want you and Beth to be happy Shelby, that's all I want."

"I don't want to hurt Beth, what if you realise you could do so much better than me?"

"What if you realise that I want to be with you. Keira Knightly could walk through the door right now completely naked and I wouldn't care Shelby. I can't explain it either, all I know is that I want to be with you."

"Can we take it slowly?" Shelby asked as she wiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"One day at a time" Noah promised, "let's start with getting sleepyhead home and bed and you letting me help take care of her tonight."

Shelby glanced down, she hadn't realised Beth had fallen asleep on her lap, "okay" she nodded slowly, "can you get her in her buggy?"

"Sure" Noah wiped away Shelby's tears before kissing her cheek softly and carefully lifting Beth from her lap.

As Noah strapped Beth into the buggy and collected his bag Shelby thanked Sarah and said her goodbyes, "I'll see you later Ma, tell Han I said hi" Noah smiled as he slung his bag over his shoulder and walked towards the door.

"Noah" Sarah called after him, waiting until he turned to face her to say "don't let me down son."


	4. Chapter 4

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Puck's sister (Hannah) and in this part Rachel and Shelby's parents.

**A/N** - A couple of you wanted to see how Shelby's family reacted to her relationship with Noah and someone else said they would like to see some of Noah's friends find out so here you have it, Shelby's parents and Rachel's reactions to Shelby and Noah

Ideas are VERY welcome.

Reviews/concrit are loved.

* * *

><p>"Happy Birthday" Noah grinned, rolling onto his side and brushing Shelby's hair out of her face before kissing her softly.<p>

"Thank you" she smiled back, content to lay in silence with him for a while.

They'd been taking things slowly, Sarah had reminded Noah that Shelby's last relationship left her with a black eye and several cracked ribs and he'd been happy to let Shelby set the pace. They'd been together since he graduated, she'd sat with Sarah and Hannah as he crossed the stage and he'd found her almost as soon as the ceremony ended, "are you doing anything tonight?" He'd asked after she congratulated him and she shook her head, "can I come over?"

Shelby shook her head, "you only graduate high school once Noah, go to a party, spend some time with your friends, Beth and I will still be here in the morning, we'll still be here when your friends have left the college, make the most of tonight and come over tomorrow."

He'd taken her advice and partied with the glee club until almost three am when he'd got home to find a note from his mom on the refrigerator. 10 minutes later he'd been knocking on Shelby's door. "I thought we could start tomorrow by waking up together" he'd grinned goofily. They'd rarely spent a night apart since.

"We should get up" Shelby told him a while later, "whilst I'd love to spend my birthday laying here with you, we have a 2 year old who probably has other ideas" she kissed him again before standing from the bed, yawning and stretching before shaking her head and grabbing her robe from the bottom of the bed when she realised Noah was staring. "Can you get Beth up while I shower?"

"Sure" Noah smiled before pulling himself from the bed and making his way to Beth's room where the young girl was sat in her cot playing with several of her stuffed animals.

"Dadda" Beth's toys were discarded the second she saw Noah and she stood in her cot holding out her arms for him to pick her up.

"Morning Princess" he smiled lifting her onto his hip, "it's Momma's birthday so how about we go surprise her?" He stripped off Beth's pyjamas and diaper before undressing himself and walking through to the ensuite. "Shh" he put his finger on his lips and Beth giggled before copying his action as he slowly pushed open the door.

"Momma" Beth grinned as Noah stepped into the shower cubicle with her on his hip. She smiled at her mother before closing her eyes and tilting her head so the shower spray rained down onto her face.

"How have you managed to get her to do that? Shelby asked Noah. She'd tried to give Beth a shower several times but she'd cried and screamed but now, if she was given the choice between a bath and a shower with Daddy the shower won every time.

"I dunno" Noah shrugged, "I just showed her there was nothing to be scared of and if she wanted to get out I let her get out. We usually bring a couple of her bath toys in here and she likes to sit in the corner and play while I wash."

"She's growing up too quickly." Shelby sighed as she watched Beth trying to catch the water from the shower in her hands, "she's not my baby any more."

Noah didn't know what to say so he kissed Shelby softly before handing Beth over, reaching for the sponge and beginning to wash Shelby's back. "I'm going to get Beth dressed and make some breakfast" he told Shelby once the trio were clean, "you take your time, I'll call you when breakfast's ready."

Noah left Shelby in the shower as he dried himself and Beth. He pulled a pair of sweatpants on over his boxers and put Beth's pyjama top back on, "I'll dress you after breakfast" he told her as he taped her diaper closed, "what do you want to wear?" he asked as he moved to stand in front of the wardrobe. "How about this?" he pulled out a ruffled denim skirt and a Minnie Mouse t-shirt before turning to Beth, "can you get some socks Bee?"

Beth grinned and nodded, "tocks, tocks, tocks" she chanted happily as she walked across the room and took a pair of frilly white ankle socks from the basket by the window, "deese tocks Dadda?"

He nodded and scooped her into his arms, "those socks are perfect."

He carried Beth to the top of the stairs before allowing her to shuffle down on her bottom and as soon as she reached the last step she ran into the living room and stood by the tv, "Dadda" she smiled sweetly.

Puck laughed as he laid the clothes on the back of the sofa, Beth didn't need to ask, she had him wrapped around her little finger, "only til breakfast is ready okay?"

Beth climbed into the armchair and nodded, "just a lil bit."

"That's right baby, just a little bit." Noah turned on the tv and found the cartoons, "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me" he told Beth before heading to make breakfast. He had bacon and eggs in the pan and pancakes keeping warm in the oven when there was a knock on the door and Beth came scurrying into the kitchen, "it's okay Bee" he told her, picking her up and carrying her to the door. "Yeah" he found an old couple on the doorstep, "can I help you?"

"Oh" The man looked puzzled, "we must have got the wrong house, we're looking for Shelby Corcoran."

"You've got the right house" Noah told them, "come in, she's upstairs, I'm just making breakfast can I get you anything?"

"No, no" the man still looked puzzled as he followed his wife into the house, "we're okay." Neither of them could understand why there was a half naked teenager acting like Shelby's house was his own.

"I need to check on the food" he passed the remote to the couple, "you can change the channel if you want." He made his way back to the kitchen pausing only to call up the stairs, "there's someone here to see you Shel and breakfast's nearly ready."

Shelby came downstairs a few minutes later to find Beth colouring at the kitchen table and Noah putting food onto plates, "crayons away please Bee" he told the young girl before turning to face Shelby, "they didn't say who they were, they're through there."

Shelby nodded and walked into the living room, "Mom, Dad" she gasped, "what are you doing here?"

"We're here to see our daughter on her birthday" her mother told her, "now would you care to explain why there is a half naked boy strutting around your house with my grandchild?"

"That's Noah" she told them, "he's Beth's father."

"Breakfast's ready" Noah called from the kitchen, "if you want pancakes be quick before Beth eats them all."

"Why is he making you breakfast without his shirt on?" Shelby's father asked before looking at his watch, "and isn't it a bit early for him to be here?"

"He's my partner" she admitted, "he's been here all night."

"He's your what?" he father exploded, "what is he, 16? What have his parents said? I can't believe you'd be so stupid Shelby."

"He's almost 19 dad and not that it's any of your business but his mother fully supports our relationship."

"19?" Her father was red in the face, "you're almost 40 for god's sake. He's probably only with you for your money."

"I am 37" Shelby argued "and he is not with me for my money."

"I can't believe you'd be so stupid Shelby, you are a teacher, you've put your own career at risk for a boy."

Noah heard the arguing in the kitchen and quickly pulled his phone from his pocket, sending a quick text to Sarah, 'Shelby's folks are here, she told them we're together and it's not going well. Can you come over?'

Shelby meanwhile was trying not to cry, "Noah and I only got together after he graduated and I never taught him. We've done nothing wrong."

"He's 18 years old Shelby" her mother spoke for the first time, "you've got to be able to see that this won't work, eventually he's going to want things you can't give him."

"You might be okay for him right now, I mean he's already had one baby he didn't want, at least he won't have to deal with another unplanned pregnancy while he's with you but he'll trade you in for a younger model sooner or later Shelby."

"I know" Shelby sat in the armchair and began to sob, "do you think I don't know that?"

"I think you need to leave now." Noah walked into the room without Beth.

"No son" Shelby's father squared up to the younger man, "I think you need to leave."

Noah ignored Shelby's father and crouched down in front of Shelby, "for what it's worth" he told her as he tucked her hair behind her ears, "I don't want a 'younger model' I want you." Shelby sniffed slightly, her hands covering her face to hide her tears, "you know as well as I do Shelby that if I did want someone my own age I wouldn't be here right now, I wouldn't have waited for you as long as I did."

At that moment there was a knock on the door and without waiting for anyone to answer Sarah walked into the room closely followed by Hannah. "Bubbe" Beth grinned as she walked into the room from the kitchen.

"Hey Bee" she scooped the girl into her arms, "why aren't you dressed yet? Hannah wants to take you to the park."

"Down" Beth wriggled in Sarah's arms until she was put down and quickly toddled over to the sofa, collecting the clothes her father had picked out and handing them to Sarah, "clothes on Bubbe."

"How about?" Sarah crouched down to Beth's height, "you go upstairs with Hannah, she can help you get dressed and you can show her where your shoes and jacket are."

"Okay Bubbe" Beth smiled, completely oblivious to the tension in the room.

Sarah waited until Beth and Hannah were upstairs before speaking again, "Shelby, go wait for me upstairs, Noah, kitchen now."

"And who may I ask are you?" Shelby's father spat.

"I'm Noah's mother" Sarah spat back just as fiercely, "and you two can either leave or you can wait here and not say another word." She didn't give them chance to respond before pulling Noah from the floor and pushing him towards the kitchen before and Shelby to her feet and guiding her towards the stairs, "I'll be up in five minutes." Sarah walked into the kitchen just in time to see her son punch the wall, she heard his knuckles crack but it didn't stop him and he pulled his fist back for a second hit, "hey" she gasped, quickly taking his hand in hers, leading him over to the table and beginning to examine his fist, "I don't think it's broken but I'll bandage it up for you" she told him, standing and getting the first aid kit she knew Shelby kept under the sink. "Noah" she sighed as she took in the young man before her, "what happened?" she asked before apologising as she wiped his cuts with an antiseptic wipe.

"I was making breakfast with Beth" he told her, "we'd just had a shower and I told Shelby to take her time getting ready, we were having such a good morning Mom. I was almost done with breakfast when they knocked on the door, I didn't know who they were but they said they were looking for Shelby so I let them in and called her down. She came downstairs and they started yelling at her. I've spent so long convincing her that I want to be with her and they've just undone all of that in fifteen minutes. I don't know what to do mom."

Sarah sighed as she finished bandaging Noah's fist, "let me talk to Shelby, don't you worry Nono, mommy will fix it" she smiled before kissing the bandage, "you wait here and please try not to cause any more damage to yourself or Shelby's house" he opened his mouth to reply but Sarah didn't give him chance, "and don't do anything to anyone else."

Sarah found Shelby curled into a ball on her bed as she sobbed quietly, "They're never happy for me" she whispered as Sarah sat beside her, "I know that there's going to come a day when Noah decides he wants more than I can give him, they don't need to remind me."

Whilst Sarah was trying to rid Shelby of her doubts, Shelby's father approached Noah in the kitchen, "what do you want?" Noah growled as he continued to pace the room.

"I want to make a proposition."

"Yeah? Well you can stick it where the sun doesn't shine."

"Look" the elder man sat at the table, "we both know that this thing you've got with my daughter won't last, she'll soon realise she can do so much better than you and you'll loose interest the second someone younger and better looking comes along, so I'm offering you an incentive to walk away now before things get messy, $10,000 and I'll get a lawyer friend of mine to make sure you and your family get regular access visits with Beth."

Noah stopped pacing and for a moment the man thought he was going to accept, "get the FUCK out of this house" he roared before he grabbed the man's arm and pulled him to his feet, "go, now. And I swear if you even so much as look at Shelby or Beth while I'm around you'll be fucking sorry." Shelby's father froze in the hallway, "move now!" he yelled. The woman grabbed her bag and ran from the house, closely followed by her husband who had never seen another man so angry. He slammed the door shut and, remembering his promise to his mom, threw himself onto the sofa, taking his anger out on the cushions.

"Noah." Shelby and Sarah had both ran downstairs when they'd heard the shouting and it was Shelby who approached him, laying her hand between his shoulder blades as he finally ran out of steam and his punches turned into sobs. "Noah" she repeated as Sarah moved into the kitchen to give the couple space, "please talk to me Noah."

He sat up and pulled her into his arms, holding her so tightly she couldn't breathe. "He told me to leave you, he said if I walked away now before things get messy he'd give me $10,000 and make sure me and my ma still got to see Beth."

Shelby stiffened in his arms, "what, what did you say?" she asked shakily.

"I told him to get the fuck out. I'm sorry Shelby, I know they're your parents but he just made me so angry, I mean he couldn't even let it go just for your birthday and spoken about it with you tomorrow." Shelby just sighed into Noah's chest and they held each other until they'd both calmed down.

"Noah" Shelby took his bandaged fist into her hand, "what happened."

Noah shrugged, "I got angry, I tried to fight your kitchen wall, I think it won."

"Oh Noah" Shelby sighed and gently kissed the bandage, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be" he said firmly before wiping at Shelby's tears, "seeing as Beth was the only one that had any of the awesome breakfast I made" Noah tried to cheer Shelby up, "how about we get my ma to call Hannah, find out where she's got to with Beth, I'll get dressed and take all my girls out to Breadsticks for brunch or whatever it's called, see if we can't get a smile on the birthday girl's face."

Shelby smiled slightly and nodded, "that sounds good."

It was almost an hour later when they finally arrived at Breadsticks. Shelby hadn't noticed Noah make a phone call whilst he was getting ready and she was surprised when her own phone began to ring. "Hello" she answered it without looking at the display.

"Happy Birthday!"

"Rachel" Shelby couldn't help but smile, with Noah's help she'd managed to start building a relationship with Rachel, things weren't perfect but they were better than they'd ever been, "how are you, what are you doing?"

"I'm good thanks, glad to have the day off from rehearsals and I'm just window shopping, thought I'd get out of the apartment for a while, what are you doing?"

"I'm at Breadsticks with Beth, Noah and his mom and sister, we're just getting something to eat."

"Oh, I'll let you eat, I'll call you later and you can tell me about your day."

"Okay Rach I'll talk you you later." The two said their goodbyes and Shelby hung up her phone just as the waiter came to take their order. They group were chatting amongst themselves a while later when Shelby felt someone cover her eyes with their hands, "what the?"

"Guess who" a familiar voice whispered in her ear.

"Rachel!" Shelby jumped from her chair and wrapped her arms around her eldest daughter, "what are you doing here?"

"I had the weekend off" she explained, "it was your birthday, I called Noah and said I was going to surprise you. He called me about an hour ago to say you'd be here."

"But the phone call?" Shelby sat back down and Sarah moved up a seat so Rachel could sit beside Shelby.

"I'm an actress darling" Rachel laughed as she slipped into the vacant seat.

"Rach" Noah broke her from her daydream a while later, "you're staring." He knew Rachel knew about him and Shelby but she'd never actually seen them together before, and while she'd given them their blessing both Noah and Shelby needed to know she was comfortable with them being affectionate in front of her. Had it been anyone else Noah wouldn't have cared what they thought but Rachel mattered to Shelby and if it made her uncomfortable he'd save his kisses for private.

"It's weird" she told them, "I mean I thought it would be weird seeing you two together but it's not. It's weird that it's not weird. Does that make sense? I mean you both seem so happy and, I don't know, you just seem right for each other."

"You've not walked in on them eating each other's faces" Hannah piped up, "that's gross."

"Shouldn't have been spying on us then" Noah replied.

"I wasn't spying" Hannah protested, "Mom told me to tell you dinner was ready, I called you but you didn't answer, she probably had her tongue in your ear or something.

Shelby blushed and Rachel held her hand up, "enough" she laughed, "we're about to eat and I've just had a visual that will probably take years of expensive therapy to recover from! I thought maybe you'd make him more mature" she told Shelby, "but it seems it's been the other way round and he's turned you into a horny teenager."

The unconventional family enjoyed a leisurely meal before returning to Shelby's house where she was given her presents, "this is from Beth" Noah told her passing her a small parcel. Inside was a card that Beth had made herself, the young girl informed her mother the scribbles on the front were flowers, an empty wooden photo frame and a voucher for a 'mommy and me' photo shoot by a local photographer.

"Thank you" she smiled at Noah.

"It wasn't me" he shrugged, "Beth got it you."

"Yeah right" Shelby laughed before pulling Beth onto her lap, "thank you for my present baby."

"'s okay mama" Beth kissed Shelby before beginning to wriggle in her arms, "play now" she said as she finally wriggled free.

"Here, this is from me." Rachel passed Shelby a card and a gift bag.

"Oh, Rachel, no it's too much" Shelby recognised the distinctive blue Tiffany's gift box as soon as she opened the gift bag, "I can't accept this, you have to take it back."

"You don't even know what it is yet" Rachel opened her eyes, "and anyway I've missed the past 18 of your birthdays, consider this one present to make up for all the ones I didn't get you anything."

"Rachel. . ." Shelby started to protest again but Rachel wouldn't let her.

"I'm not taking it back so you might at least open it." Shelby's expression was unreadable as she opened the box, "I thought you'd like them, you know because they're kind of our thing." Rachel began to ramble, "if you don't like them I can take them back and get you something else.

"Rachel" Shelby felt her eyes fill with tears as she looked at the gold star pendant and matching earrings, "I can't accept these, they must have cost you a fortune."

"I got them for you" Rachel insisted, "if I couldn't afford them I wouldn't have got them."

Shelby finally gave in, "thank you Rachel" she pulled her eldest daughter into a hug, "I love them, thank you."

"Wow" Sarah laughed as she glanced at the jewellery, "kinda puts our gift to shame." She handed Shelby a large gift bag, "but it's the thought that counts" she reminded her. Shelby laughed and opened the gift bag to find a bottle of wine, a large bottle of bubble bath and several other pamper products, "I thought Hannah and I could watch Beth for you one day so you and Noah could relax a little, or I could take Noah and Beth off your hands" she joked, "I know how much of a handful he can be. Just because you're a mommy doesn't mean you can't ever have any time to yourself"

Shelby smiled, "thank you" she smiled sincerely, "It's a lovely idea, and you're right, sometimes I don't know who gets into more trouble Noah or Beth" she chuckled.

"So what did Noah get you?" Rachel asked as she sat on the sofa with Shelby.

"He hasn't got me a gift as such" she explained, "but he's got Sarah to watch Beth next weekend and he's taking me away somewhere but he won't tell me where."

Rachel shook her head, "please don't call me and tell me about what happens on that trip" she laughed, "somehow I don't think I'll want to hear about it and I doubt I could afford that much therapy!"

Shelby didn't realise at the time but even with the morning's drama this was one of the best birthdays she'd ever had, last year she'd spent the day with Beth at a local aquarium and for several years before that she'd spent her birthday's alone. She took a look around the room and smiled, Beth was sat on Hannah's lap, desperately trying to keep her eyes open as Hannah chatted to Rachel, Noah stood by the kitchen talking with Sarah and there were several discarded pizza boxes on the coffee table to make room for the twister mat Hannah had bought over, a game which Shelby had won but Rachel insisted she had let her mother win because it was her birthday and had demanded a replay but Shelby refused.

She saw Sarah point at Beth but couldn't hear what she said to Noah. "Mom's going to get off" Noah told her as he walked over and sat on the arm of the chair Shelby was sat in, "she's on an early shift tomorrow but she wondered if we wanted her to take Beth tonight and have Hannah bring her over in the morning."

"I'll ask her" Shelby smiled, pecking Noah's lips before moving from the chair, "hey sleepy girl" Shelby cooed as she scooped Beth into her arms, "are you tired?" Beth nodded, "do you want to sleep at Bubbe's house tonight?"

Beth shook her head, "Dadda 'ower"

"You want to shower with Daddy before bed?"

Beth nodded and began to suck on her fingers, "an Momma read."

"Okay baby" Shelby kissed Beth's hair before removing the girl's fingers from her mouth, "let's say bye to Bubbe and Hannah and then we'll ask Daddy if he'll take a shower with you."

"Okay Momma" Beth smiled as she laid her head on Shelby's shoulder, she'd not had a nap that day and was obviously exhausted.

They said goodbye to Sarah and Hannah and Rachel too made her excuses and left, "Beth wants to have a shower with Daddy before bed" Shelby told Noah as he wrapped his arms around her waist, Beth still sat on Shelby's hip.

Noah nodded, "Okay, but just a quick one yeah cos someone needs to be in bed."

Beth nodded, "just a lil one."

"C'mon then" he took Beth from Shelby, "do you wanna have a bath when she's asleep?" he asked Shelby, "you can use some of that stuff my ma got you and I might even give you a back rub afterwards" he grinned cheekily.

Shelby smiled, "sounds good, I'm gonna clean up a bit down here then I'll come up and read her a story."

"Okay" Noah smiled and kissed Shelby, "we won't be long, I'm not going to wash her hair or anything, I might see if I can just get away with standing under the water for a couple of minutes cos she had a shower this morning and she's not filthy."

"Yeah" Shelby nodded, "that's fine, just call me when you're ready for me to come tuck her in."

Shelby and Noah hadn't even finished the first page of Cinderella when Beth's eyes fluttered closed. It was almost 9pm and Beth was usually in bed by 7.30, Shelby only hoped she'd sleep late or they'd have one grumpy girl on her hands come morning.

As promised Noah ran Shelby a warm bubble bath after Beth was asleep, he'd planned on letting her relax while he tidied up downstairs but she'd asked him to stay. He slipped in behind her and Shelby savoured the feeling of being able to share this level of intimacy with someone, knowing that if all she wanted to do after the bath was crawl into bed and snuggle then nothing else would be expected of her.

He had her lay on her stomach after the bath and used some of the body butter his mother had bought her to massage her shoulders and back. Shelby too was fighting sleep once he'd finished and he left the room to allow her to change into her pyjamas.

"Thank you Noah" Shelby whispered as she laid curled into him once he too had changed, "for sorting out my parents, for arranging Rachel's visit. I thought the day was going to be completely ruined after my parent's showed up and started yelling, but I had a great day Noah, I guess that quote's really true y'know, 'those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.' I see my parents twice a year if that, I realise now that I don't care if Beth and I see them or not, but the people that matter, your mom and Hannah, Rachel, they're happy for us, I'd rather have a few people close to us that are happy for us, than have a wide circle of people who hate the fact that we're together."

"Shelby" Noah smiled sleepily, "if you and Beth are happy I don't care about anyone else, and I'm not going to stand by and watch while someone else takes that happiness away okay. You're a big girl now and I trust you to tell me if something's not right, we'll deal with the haters don't worry about it."

There was silence for a moment before Shelby whispered, "I love you Noah."

He grinned into the darkness, "I love you too, oh and Shelby?"

"Yeah?"

"Happy Birthday."


	5. Chapter 5

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah) & Bruno the new addition to the family!

**A/N** - See how quickly I can update if I have ideas! Luthiem Vardamir said it would be nice to read something about Noah's plans for the future. I hope this chapter is what you wanted (I know nothing about the path Noah has chosen, it's just something I could see him doing!)

Ideas are VERY welcome.

Reviews/concrit are loved.

* * *

><p>"What are you looking at?" Shelby asked sitting beside Noah after she'd put Beth down for a nap.<p>

"Nothing" he said quickly closing the web page on his laptop but he wasn't quick enough and Shelby recognised the logo for the local community college.

"Is there something you want to do?" Shelby asked and Noah shrugged in response, "talk to me Noah, if there's something you want to do I'll support you." Shelby seemed to be finally coming round to the fact that Noah wanted to be with her and she felt more comfortable in the relationship every time she woke up beside him. They'd not 'officially' moved in together but the only time Noah slept at home was on the rare occasion Sarah had to work a night shift and Hannah couldn't sleep at a friends house.

"It doesn't matter" he shrugged, closing the laptop and placing it on the coffee table in front of him, "is Beth asleep?"

"Yeah" Shelby knew Noah was trying to change the subject but didn't push him, "do you want to watch a movie or something?"

Noah nodded, "sounds good" his stomach rumbled, "but I think I should have some lunch first."

Shelby and Noah ate their lunch in the back yard, trying to make the most of the late summer weather they planned to take Beth to the park when she woke up. "Noah" Shelby spoke up once they'd finished eating, "do you want to go to college?"

He shrugged again, "It doesn't matter, it's not like I could afford to go anyway."

"Is that what this is about?" Shelby asked, "because I can give you the money if you need to and you can apply for financial aid."

Noah shook his head, "I'm meant to be providing for my family, I can't take your money to spend the next couple of years doing something that won't bring any money in."

Shelby sighed, "but after those couple of years are up you'll be bringing more money into the house than you would if you didn't go to college, and the money isn't a problem Noah, I want to help you out, I don't mind supporting us while you're at college, it would be different if you were sat at home doing nothing but you wont be, please don't just dismiss college as something you'll never be able to do." Noah sighed, "look, wait here" Shelby told him before walking back into the house and returning a few moments later with an envelope in her hands, "I don't want you to take this the wrong way Noah, I want this to make you see that going to college would be a good thing in the long run."

"What is it?" Noah asked taking a sheet of stiff white letter headed paper from the envelope and glancing at the text.

"It's a letter from my solicitor" Shelby told him, "I've set up an appointment for us" Noah's face fell, "No, it's not bad" Shelby was quick to reassure him, "I want to see about getting your parental rights for Beth reinstated".

"You want me to be her daddy for real?" Noah was shocked.

"You already her daddy for real" Shelby assured him, "I want you to be her daddy by law."

"I, I. . ." he was speechless.

"You're doing all you can to show me you're in this relationship for the long hall, I guess, I guess this is my way of showing you I want the same, but I need you to at least think about college Noah, please."

He nodded, "I'm not going to promise I'm going to go to college but I will send off for an information pack okay?"

Shelby nodded and leant across the patio table to peck Noah's lips, "what course were you looking at anyway?"

"EMT training, I, I don't know, I thought it might be something I was good at but it's not exactly the safest of jobs is it? I mean if I've got a family I don't want to purposely put myself in danger."

Shelby smiled, "I think you'd be great at it Noah, as much as you try to hide it sometimes I know you care a lot about people and you're calm in a crisis, and I guess it's the safest of the emergency services. We could come to a compromise about the money if you like, I mean I could pay for you to go to college" she held up her hand to stop him interrupting her, "and then when you qualify and get a job you can pay me back by putting the same amount into Beth's college fund, that means you'd have almost fifteen years to make the money back and we wouldn't have to worry about finding money to pay back a loan or something if one month we needed to spend your money on something else. If this is something you want to do I want you to do it Noah."

He nodded, "If you did loan me the money I'd want it to be that, a loan. Putting it into Beth's college fund sounds like a good idea. I'm not promising anything Shelby, if I manage to get a well paid job in the meantime then I'd be happy with that but I will look into it okay."

"Yeah" Shelby smiled, "that's all I ask of you."

"Please don't say anything to my ma" Noah asked as Shelby moved to take the dirty plates inside, "I mean if she knows I was looking at college courses I'll never hear the end of it, let's just keep it between us until I've decided what I'm going to do."

Shelby nodded, she knew Sarah would want Noah to go to college, like every parent she wanted the best for her children but Noah was a grown man now, she didn't want him to be forced into a decision, if he went to college it had to be because he wanted to go, "my lips are sealed" she smiled.

They moved back into the house and settled on the sofa to watch tv while they waited for Beth to wake from her nap. Shelby sat between Noah's legs, her back against his chest as he laid out on the sofa, "what?" he asked as she tipped her head to smile up at him.

"What?" Shelby laughed before Noah kissed her lips, "can't I smile at you now?"

"You can smile at me" Noah confirmed, "but you look like you want something."

"Nope" Shelby shook her head in a move that reminded him of Rachel, "I'm just happy."

"Good." Noah smiled, kissing Shelby again before turning his attention back to the tv.

"Where do you think we'll be in 10 years time?" Shelby asked quietly a while later as she played with Noah's fingers, his hands were wrapped loosely around her stomach and he squeezed her gently.

"You'll be nearly 50 and Beth will be heading for her teens, I'll be running for the hills" he laughed, "I'd like us to have a couple more kids though".

"Noah" her eyes filled with tears, she knew that one day he'd want more than she could give him.

"I'd like us to adopt a little boy so I'm not completely outnumbered, call him Noah Junior, I could make him into a total badass." Shelby smiled as he mentioned adoption, "y'know" Noah didn't know how Shelby would react to what he was about to tell her, "when Rachel came down for your birthday, she offered to be a surrogate for us if you wanted to, I mean if you wanted us to have a child that's still part you. I'm happy for us to adopt" he said quickly, "I just thought I'd put that out there, you know."

Shelby nodded, "I don't know if I could put her through that" she whispered, "I mean what if something happened while she was pregnant with our child that meant she couldn't have any children of her own. I know how that feels Noah, I couldn't do it to Rachel too."

"Hey" Noah felt Shelby's body begin to shake as she sobbed, "it's okay, I don't mind, I just wanted you to know she'd offered, we could ask for a little blonde baby so Beth doesn't feel left out. Can we do that? I mean can we say we want a baby with blonde hair and green eyes or whatever?"

Shelby laughed, "I don't think so, I think we just have to see which parents like us and get whatever their baby looks like but i don't know, I suppose you could specify that you want parents with similar characteristics to you but with babies you can never really tell, I mean Rachel was born with blue eyes and Beth's hair was a lot lighter, so we could adopt a blonde haired blue eyed newborn only for it to be a brown eyed brunette by the time he or she gets to pre school."

"What would you call them? How many would we have. If there was nothing stopping us?"

"When I was younger I wanted four children" she confessed, "two boys and two girls. I'm not so sure on names though, I like Emily and Ben, but I don't think Beth and Ben go. I've not really thought about it, I didn't think it would happen."

"I wanted Quinn to call Beth Jack Daniel" Noah laughed, "you know like the whiskey, when Quinn pointed out she was a girl I suggested Jackie."

Shelby laughed, "Yeah, not going to let you name any of our children. You can be in charge of naming pets."

"Awesome" Noah grinned, "can we get a dog?"

"As long as you walk it and clean up after it."

"What?" Noah was shocked, "Really?"

Shelby laughed, he really was like an excited child, "as long as it doesn't do it's business in my house and you walk it then yes we can get a dog."

"Get up" Noah pushed Shelby away so he could stand up, "I need the laptop now."

"Why?"

Noah looked at Shelby like she was an idiot, "so I can find us a dog."

"Oh God" Shelby sighed, "what have I done?"

A couple of weeks passed where Noah said nothing about either getting a dog or going to college. As promised he'd sent off for more information on the course and several times Shelby had caught Noah reading through it when he'd thought she was busy with Beth. She'd not mentioned it though, she didn't want to push him into a decision and she was sure he'd come to her if he wanted to talk. It was the weekend before mother's day when Noah told Shelby he was taking Beth out for the day and she obviously thought he was taking her out to buy a present.

"Momma, Momma, look what Daddy's got." Beth ran into the house ahead of Noah a few hours later and Shelby knew the second she saw the box in Noah's arms what was inside.

"Come on then" Shelby rolled her eyes, "let me see."

"His name's Bruno" Noah told her, "he's 5 months old, someone abandoned him, his mom and the other puppies when they were a few hours old, he was the runt and no one wanted him. He's been" Noah made a snipping motion with his fingers, "and microchipped, no fleas or worms, he's up to date with his shots and there's all the stuff we'll need in the back of the truck. I took Beth to make sure he was okay with her and he was."

"I have to say" Shelby glanced at the tiny black ball of fur curled into the corner of the pet carrier, "he looks pretty cute. What breed is he?"

"He's a black lab crossed with something they're not sure about. He's trained to pee on newspaper and go outside for the other stuff." Noah told her, "I'm just gonna get the stuff from my truck."

"He's shaking Noah" Shelby told him as he walked into the house a couple of minutes later with several bags and a large box.

"He's probably scared" Noah smiled at the sight of Shelby cradling Bruno in her arms, stroking between his ears and telling him he was okay. He knew any kid they adopted would be lucky to have her for a mother, "I bought a cage for him" Noah gestured to the box, "I thought he might like his own space, somewhere he can hide from us."

"You has'ta leave him alone when he's in the cage" Beth told Shelby what Noah had told her, "you can only play when he comes out."

"That's right" Noah nodded, "I'll just go set this up in the kitchen, then we can give him some time to get used to his new house." Noah set up the cage in the kitchen, he'd bought a large sized one to give Bruno room to grow, there was a cushion-bed at one end, covered in a blanket he'd had in his bed at the pet shelter and he'd placed newspaper at the end by the door. His full food and water bowls were just outside the cage and Noah had placed a chew toy and a cuddly bear inside the cage, "Shelby" he called, "do you want to bring him in?"

Shelby walked into the kitchen closely followed by Beth, she placed Bruno on the floor by the cage and watched as he ran inside and took the blanket in his teeth, pulling it over his head as he cowered in the corner, "where did you get the blanket from?" Shelby asked as they moved out of the kitchen to give Bruno time to get used to his new surroundings.

"It was from his bed at the shelter, they said having something familiar might help him settle."

Shelby nodded and glanced at the other pet shop bags on the living room floor, "do you want to show me what else you got for him?"

Beth spent the next half an hour showing Shelby absolutely everything they'd picked out for the puppy before announcing she was hungry and wanted her dinner. Shelby walked into the kitchen to find Bruno out of his cage and stood by the kitchen door, he began whining as soon as he saw Shelby and after she noticed the newspaper in his cage was wet she opened the door to let him out into the back yard. She knew he'd be safe out there, she'd had it completely fenced in before she'd allowed Beth to play outside, "good boy" she praised the puppy when he came back inside, "good boy." She opened the fridge and began taking out vegetables for dinner and when she turned round Bruno was stood behind her, his tail wagging as he held his twisted rope chew toy in his mouth, "Beth" Shelby called into the living room, "I think Bruno wants to play." She paused for a minute before calling Noah through too, "Bruno's been outside" she told him, "and he needs clean paper."

"If we do get another baby" Noah whispered in Shelby's ear after he'd cleaned up Bruno's mess and checked Beth wouldn't overhear them, "you can change all the diapers and I'll do all the fun things."

Shelby shook her head, "I don't think so" she laughed, "I changed all Beth's diapers for the first year and half of her life, I think it would only be fair if you did that for me if we have another child."

"Yeah" Noah laughed, "never going to happen, what if I'm at work or on a night shift saving someone's life?"

Shelby turned to face him, "You mean?"

"Yeah" he nodded again, "I posted my application form a couple of weeks ago, Mr Schue and Coach Beaste both wrote letters of recommendation and I got my acceptance letter this morning."

"That's brilliant" Shelby smiled, "I'm so proud of you." She turned and kissed him before turning back to the pan on the stove, "now pass me those peas."

It seemed to Noah that he and Shelby had some of their most important conversations as they laid in bed at night, he supposed it made sense, it was one time and place where they were almost guaranteed not to be interrupted. "I looked into adoption earlier." Shelby confessed, "it seems there's a lot in the way of admin that needs to be done, background checks and home visits, I don't know if you want to do that now or if you want to wait a while?"

"Maybe it would be good to wait a year or so." Noah suggested, "I mean I know I want to be with you for the long run and you know that too, but to outsiders it will just seem like we've only been together for a couple of months, if we can prove to them we've worked well as a family for a year or whatever it might look better for us."

"I guess so" Shelby nodded, "and I know you wanted a baby, a Puck Junior but I was looking at a website earlier, there are so many older children and even sibling groups that need homes Noah, it breaks my heart to think that some of those children could get to 16, 18, 21 without ever having known what it's like to live in a stable family home."

Noah could tell Shelby was on the verge of tears, "look babe, this is something that isn't going to be happening for a while, some of those kids might already have homes by the time we're ready to pick one. And for the record I wouldn't mind adopting an older child within reason, I mean I'm 18, I don't want no 16 year old calling me Dad."

Shelby laughed, "I guess you're right."

"Always am Babe." Noah smiled before kissing Shelby, "and who's to say we can't adopt a baby and a kid? You said you wanted two boys and two girls" he smiled and kissed Shelby again before settling under the covers and drifting off to sleep.

Noah rang his Mom the next morning and invited her over, "Bubbe look." Beth squeezed past Noah and took Sarah's hand in hers before Noah was even able to greet his mother, "come see in the kitchen."

"Oh wow." Sarah gasped as she walked into the kitchen where Bruno was wrestling a chew toy on the floor, "who's this then?" She asked as Bruno came over and she began to scratch between his ears.

"He's called Bruno" Beth told her grandmother, "we gots him yes'aday me and Dadda fetched him and went to the pets shop too."

"You're a very lucky girl aren't you eh?" Sarah stood to her feet as Bruno lost interest and wondered back into his cage.

Beth nodded, "When I gets bigger Daddy's gonna get me a wabbit."

"Is he really?" Noah asked, walking into the kitchen in search of his mother.

"Yep" Beth grinned cheekily, "For my birfday Daddy."

Noah laughed, "nice try kiddo" he ruffled Beth's hair, "but maybe when Bruno's a bit bigger yeah?" Beth nodded, "Will you go and play upstairs for a while while I speak to Bubbe?"

"Will Bubbe play with me later?" Beth asked as she swung on his arm.

Sarah nodded, "the sooner you run upstairs, the sooner I'll be able to talk with Daddy and then come up there." Noah and Sarah laughed as Beth dropped Noah's hand and shot from the room. "So what do you want to talk to me about?" Sarah asked as she moved to sit at the kitchen table and gestured for Noah to do the same. He didn't say anything and Sarah looked him in the eye, "you're worrying me Noah, whatever it is it can't be that bad."

"It's, it's not bad Ma."

"Well what is it then?"

Noah stood up and pulled a folded envelope from his pocket, "I, this came for me yesterday." He put the envelope in front of Sarah as he sat back down.

Sarah studied the envelope for a while before taking out the sheet of paper and glancing over it, "Mr Puckerman" she read out loud, "We are writing to offer you a place on our EMT level 1 training course beginning. . . Oh my god Noah." She dropped the paper and pulled Noah into a bone crushing hug, "I had no idea you were even thinking about applying."

"I erm, I wanted to keep it quiet until I'd heard, I didn't want you to get your hopes up if I wasn't going to get in."

"Oh Noah" he was pretty sure Sarah was crying now, "I'd still have been so proud of you, I'm so proud Noah, you are an amazing young man, I don't ever want to hear any of this Lima loser rubbish. You are a father, a partner and you're soon going to be a paramedic. I'll be truthful Noah, I once thought you were going to end up in jail before you turned 21, I was so worried about you, but now, oh Noah, I'm so proud, I'm so proud of you."

"Ma." She'd bought tears to his eyes, he'd always wanted to hear someone say they were proud of him, "Ma" he said again, "Ma, this is totally not badass."

Sarah laughed and wiped at her eyes, "I hate to break it to you son but you're not a badass any more Nono, you're a responsible young man."

"Yeah Ma, but you don't need to tell everyone."


	6. Your opinion please

I've been writing a chapter where a new child joins the Puckerman-Corcoran family for a while now and I just wondered how you guys would feel about that being the next chapter? I'd probably skip a couple of years so Beth's maybe 5/6 ish but I didn't know if that would be moving too fast. On the upside it is something I can get several chapters out of the new arrival. If it is something you would be happy with seeing now I'll probably be able to get the first chapter up by the end of next week.

Let me know what you think.

Bodge


	7. Chapter 7

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** - I had a mixed response to how you felt about Noah and Shelby becoming parents to another child but in the end I decided to go for it, it could be the only way I ever write anymore of this fic. I know this part is shorter than usual but the end seemed to come naturally and as you'll all see it leaves me room to write several more follow on chapters, the next of which I hope to have up within 7/10 days if this is a storyline you'd like me to continue (let me know if you dont!)

Ideas are VERY welcome.

Reviews/concrit are loved.

* * *

><p>Shelby was ill. It had started with a bug Beth had bought home from school, a bug that almost every child in the school had caught and passed on to their friends and family. Noah had hated seeing Beth so ill, Sarah considered taking her to the hospital on more than one occasion, but now he knew he hated seeing Shelby ill just as much. Even Hannah had been ill, infact Noah and Sarah were the only ones that had yet to catch the mystery bug, Sarah had told him that working with sick people had helped strengthened their immune systems but Noah would gladly have been ill twice over just so he didn't have to watch Shelby and Beth suffer, luckily Beth and Hannah were on their way back to full health and Shelby seemed to be coming out of the worst part of the illness, the constant vomiting had faded to just the occasional incident and now she just had to work on keeping solidfoods down and getting over the lethargy that had lasted weeks in Beth and Hannah.<p>

"How is she?" Noah asked kicking off his boots and dropping his jacket as he entered the house. He'd been unable to take time off to care for Shelby and was glad that Sarah had beem able to take some time off work and make sure Shelby wasn't alone. He greeted Bruno with a pat on the head before he moved into the kitchen where Sarah was maing herself and her son a cup of tea.

"Tired" Sarah said truthfully, "she was sick again earlier, quite a few times and her temperature's up again, but only slightly. I've given her the stuff the doctor prescribed and left some water by her bed, she was sleeping when I came down."

Noah sighed, "do you think she needs to go to the hospital or something?"

Sarah shook her head, "I think she's okay for now, she's keeping fluids down so I'm not worried about her getting dehydrated and her temperature's only slightly elevated, let's give her til the end of the week and if she's still vomiting we'll get her checked over."

"Okay" Noah smiled to Sarah, "I'm going to go see if she's still sleeping."

"Hey" Shelby mumbled as Noah pushed open the bedroom door.

"Hey yourself" he smiled and sat on the edge of the bed after he'd helped her sit up, "how are you feeling?"

Shelby's head flopped towards Noah, she didn't even have the energy to lift it from the pillows, "like shit."

"Yeah" he nodded, "you look like shit. Do you want to have a bath later?"

Shelby nodded slightly, her head felt too heavy for her neck, "I feel awful Noah, even keeping my eyes open feels like it's taking a massive amount of energy.

"Close them then" he said simply, "I'm goin to take Bruno out for a walk, collect Beth from school and then take her to the park for a bit so you can rest okay? She's going to have dinner with Hannah and Mom so we can have a bath before she comes home okay?"

Shelby nodded, already falling back to sleep, "Thank you Noah" she mumbled sleepily, "I love you."

Noah laid her back under the covers and kissed her warm forehead, "I love you too."

"Daddy" Beth screeched as she ran from the school and saw her father, "I've missed you Daddy" she threw her arms around his waist and squeezed him tightly, his shift patterns latley meant he had left the house while she was still sleeping and not got home until she was back in bed but he had the next three days off and he was determined to spend as much time with his daughter as possible.

"I've missed you too kiddo."

"Is Momma still sick?" Beth asked as he began to fuss over Bruno

"I'm afraid so Bee, we're going to go to the park for a while so Momma can sleep a little bit and then you're going to have dinner with Bubbe and Hannah so I can help Momma have a bath."

"Have I gots to sleep at Bubbe's again?"

"No, Bubbe's going to bring you home before bed time." Noah allowed Beth to take hold of Bruno's lead as they walked towards the park.

"Can we go in the shower before bed?" Beth asked him, "We always did it before but now we don't."

Noah nodded, "if you want to shower before bed we can do that, and if you're really good I might even read you two stories before you have to go to sleep."

Beth knew her father was in a good mood and decided to try her luck, "and if I'm really really good I might even be allowed an ice cream after the park." She smiled sweetly up at Noah and he laughed.

"Nice try Bee. I'll see."

Beth crouched down and took hold of Bruno's collar, holding him close to her, "that means yes Bruno" she whispered in the dog's ear, "and I bets he'll buy you an ice cream too" she said before stroking his head, passing the lead to Noah and running to join her friends on the climbing frame.

"I see Daddy let you have ice cream before your dinner" Sarah raised an eyebrow in Noah's direction as he struggled to unclip Bruno's lead from his collar.

Beth's jaw dropped, "how did you know Bubbe?"

Sarah smiled, "Bubbes are magical people."

"For real?" Beth asked in amazement.

Hannah laughed, "come here Bee" she lifted Beth so she could see into the mirror on the living room wall.

"Bubbe" Beth called, "you're not magic, I gots ice cream on my face silly."

Sarah and Hannah left not long after Noah had bought Beth home from the park and Noah gave Shelby another half an hour before he crept up the stairs to check on her. "Oh Shel" he sighed as he saw her tossing and turning in her sleep as she fought to untangle her sweaty body from the sheets. He pulled away the sheets and sat on the edge of the bed before he laid the back of his hand on her forehead and sighed at how hot she'd become since she'd fallen asleep, "Shelby" he shook her shoulders and she woke slowly.

"Noah" she mumbled, her eyes still half closed, "what time is it?"

"About half four, Beth's at Mom's so I thought we could have that bath, you're burning up."

Shelby didn't know how to reply so simply nodded and allowed Noah to carry her into the bathroom. He sat her on the toilet lid whilst he ran the bath and poured in some bubble bath before he helped her undress and lifted her easily into the water, not failing to notice just how much weight she'd lost since she'd become ill. "Aren't you staying?" she asked when Noah went to leave the room.

"I'm going to put you some clean sheets on the bed and open the window so we can get some fresh air in, I'll be back as soon as I've done that okay?" Shelby nodded and Noah left the bathroom, quickly changing the sheets and throwing the windows open before rushing back to the bathroom, undressing and sliding into the warm water behind Shelby. "You feel like you're on fire Shelby."

"My stomach hurts" she told him, "like I've been sick so much I've pulled something."

"You might have. But touch wood" Noah reached out to tap the cabinet by the sink, "you've not been sick since this morning, if your temperature goes down a little bit we might be able to say you're over the worst of it."

"I hope so" Shelby sighed, "I'm sick of being sick." They sat in silence for a while before Shelby spoke again, "can we sit outside when we get out? I'd like to get out of the bedroom for a while."

"Sure" Noah smiled, "the fresh air will do you good, so we better get you clean so we can get out before it's dark." Noah washed Shelby and helped her get dressed before he carried her out to the garden and sat in a lawn chair with her on his lap, "are you feeling better?" he asked.

"A little" Shelby confessed, "you shouldn't be so close Noah, you don't want to get ill."  
>Noah smiled and kissed Shelby's neck, "babe if I could take this from you I would, and maybe I want you to nurse me better" he laughed, "you could get the ou..."<p>

"I'm going to stop you right there" Shelby interupted, "if you feel as ill as I do I could look after you completley naked and you wouldnt have the energy to do anything."

"Doesn't mean I wouldn't want to though."

Shelby laughed and laid her head on Noah's shoulder, "how is it that you always know how to make me feel better?" She mumbled into his neck as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"How is it you always manage to look so amazing?" he asked, "even when you're sick you make me want to rip your clothes off and have my wicked way with you on the patio table."

Shelby smiled, "I'd probably fall asleep on you, and I doubt you'd want to tell your colleagues in the emergency department how I got splinters in my butt."

Noah grinned and placed a kiss on shelby's exposed neck, "I could probably get them out myself, or we could call my ma over or just put a blanket on the table or something."

"Maybe some other time." Shelby mumbled, "when I'm not so exhausted."

"You might be exhausted" Noah told her, "but you've not been sick since this morning. You never know I might be able to bring you some toast in bed in the morning, Mom said you needed to go 24 hours without being sick before you tried eating again." Noah got no response from Shelby and as he glanced downwards he found she'd fallen asleep curled into his chest.

It took almost three weeks for Shelby to recover from the ilness but a less than a week after she'd began to feel 'normal' again she woke once again feeling nauseous and lethargic. She faked a smile as Noah left for work and it wasn't until after she'd dropped Beth off at school she allowed herself to collapse on the sofa and call the doctor.

She managed to get an appointment for that afternoon and only called Noah to tell him about the appointment as she left the doctors surgery. "Noah" She whispered as he answered his phone, "can you c, call your mom, see if she or Hannah can fetch Beth from school?"

"Shelby" Noah noticed the shake in her voice, infact she sounded like she was crying, "I can get off early and pick her up, is everything okay?"

Shelby couldn't hold back any longer and she began to sob, "No" she whispered, "it's not okay, it's not okay at all."

"Where are you Shelby, what's happened?"

"I'm in my car outside the doctors office".

"The doctors office?" He knew Shelby had still been feeling ill but she'd told him it wasn't serious, that it was just the bug and she'd get over it eventually.

"I didn't want you to worry Noah, I thought he'd say I was fine but he didn't, he, he wants me to go to the hospital for tests, he's told them I'm on my way but I'm so scared Noah, I want, I need you with me."

"Tests? What sort of tests? What does he think's wrong?"

"Blood tests, an ultrasound, he doesn't think anything's wrong Noah, he knows, he knows I'm pregnant."


	8. Chapter 8

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** - I'm going on holiday for 2 weeks on Saturday, I'll try and update again before I go but I'm not promising anything.

I hope youre ready for some angst.

Ideas are VERY welcome.

Reviews/concrit are loved.

* * *

><p>If Noah hadn't have been stopped at a red light he was pretty sure he's have crashed his truck right about then. He didn't hear the cars honking behind him as the light turned green, "you're..."<p>

Shelby nodded even though he couldn't see him, "I'm pregnant".

"But you said you couldn't..."

"They told me I couldn't, I didn't lie to you Noah, I honestly didn't think I could have any more children."

"I'm not, God Shelby I'm not accusing you of lying to me, it's just, I'm just shocked. How, I mean if they thought you couldn't." Noah's thoughts were spinning so fast he could hardly form a coherent sentence.

"I've got endometriosis Noah, do you know what that is?"

"No, I don't, I, just hold on a minute Shelby". She didn't hear a car door slam, she only heard the dial tone as Noah cut her off. She was just about to redial when someone opened her passenger door and Noah climbed in beside her. "So, you were saying".

Shelby broke down again and Noah helped her into the back seat where he could hold her and rock her until she was able to carry on her conversation. "I have endometriosis, it means the lining of my womb grows in places it shouldn't, it's not too bad right now but a couple of years after I had Rachel it got really bad and I had to have surgery a couple of times, the doctors told me after one surgery that both my fallopian tubes were almost completely blocked with scar tissue. I had to have regular check ups after that, it was every month for a while, then it slipped to every 3 months, then 6, now I only need to go once a year. One time I went for a check up and they found I had several small tumours in my womb." She heard Noah gasp, "they weren't, they weren't cancerous and to this day they don't know what caused them. They did keyhole surgery, used a laser to remove them, they came back a couple of times but they removed them again but obviously there was scarring. The doctors said" Shelby took a shaky breath, "they said even if an egg managed to make its way down my fallopian tube and get fertilized it would struggle to 'fix' itself anywhere to grow. That's why they want me to have the tests, they want to see if the pregnancy is" she closed her eyes and swallowed hard before whispering "viable".

"Viable?" Noah wished he was smarter, that he didn't have to ask Shelby to explain.

"If it's going to survive."

"Oh" Noah didn't know what to say, "we should get going" Shelby nodded, "want me to drive?"

"Please".

Noah was just about to pull out of the car park when Shelby stopped him, "what, is someone picking Beth up?"

Noah nodded, "Mom's busy this afternoon so I called Beth's school, they said it's not a problem and she can go to the after school club until Hannah's picks her up on her way home."

They drove in silence until they reached the hospital, "the doctor said to go to the maternity department" Shelby told Noah, "he said they'll be waiting for me." Noah nodded and the silence returned only broken when Shelby told the receptionist her name and the name of her doctor. They took a seat in the hard plastic chairs and only then did Noah reach out and take Shelby's hand in his own, trying to give her a little bit of comfort.

"Shelby Corcoran" a nurse called her name and led her into a small side room before greeting Shelby and Noah and introducing herself . She took Shelby's blood pressure before weighing her and noting down her height, she then filled several vials with blood before taking a paper gown from the cupboard. "Could you put this on" she asked passing the gown to Shelby, "and make yourself comfortable on the bed, the sonographer will be in in a couple of minutes."

Noah helped Shelby into the gown before she sat on the edge of the bed, her head bowed. "Hey" Noah lifted her chin and kissed her softly, "I love you."

Shelby nodded, "I love you too" she whispered sadly.

The sonographer entered the room a couple of minutes later as promised and introduced herself before talking Shelby through the procedure and turning on the machine.

"Woah, woah, where are you putting that?" Noah asked as the doctor moved towards the bottom of the bed, "I've done this before, you just run that thing over her stomach."

"Because Miss Corcoran is still in the very early stages of pregnancy, and because of the scarring to her womb we'll be able to get a better image this way." The sonographer tried to explain.

Shelby saw a look of anger flash across Noah's face and reached out to grab his hand, "it's okay Noah".

He saw how scared she looked so he squeezed her hand reassuringly, growling at the doctor "be careful" he warned. He saw Shelby wince slightly as the probe was inserted, "hey" he snapped at the doctor.

"It's okay Noah, it's just a little cold, I'm okay, really." Puck allowed himself one last glare at the doctor before he sat in the chair by the bed, "Oh Shelby" he sighed as he saw the tears pooling in her eyes, his right hand was still intertwined with her left and he placed his free hand on her cheek, turning her to face him he leant over and kissed away her tears, "we can do this" he told her, "whatever they tell us we'll get through it." Right now he felt exactly the same way he did when Quinn told him she was putting Beth up for adoption, he's fathered a child yet there was a chance he'd never get to meet them. He wanted to cry, scream, hit something, anything to get rid of his anger, his frustration. Why was life so unfair?

He continued to stroke her hair and mumble reassurances to her until the sonographer announced she'd finished. "I'll pass these on to the obstetrician, if you want to get changed and take a seat outside he'll call you when he's ready."

"Okay Miss Corcoran, your blood work looks fine, you're a little anaemic but that's not really anything to worry about right now, it's something you can rectify by making a few changes to your diet, more red meat and leafy green vegetables will help but if you start feeling light headed or overly fatigued then make an appointment with your regular doctor and they'll be able to prescribe you some iron tablets." Shelby nodded and the doctor continued, "I've looked at the ultrasound images and it appears you're about 7 weeks pregnant and from what I can see the placenta has formed in the best place possible. It's in an area without too much scar tissue and it's nice and high up. Right now I'd say, if you just looked at the foetus, things are exactly how I'd like them to be. That said, I can't predict how your pregnancy is going to play out. The scar tissue will effect the elasticity of your womb and you probably won't be able to carry the baby to full term. There is also a possibility that you may loose the baby, the scar tissue in your womb may cause the placenta to pull away or you may have a completely healthy pregnancy. I just need to make you aware of all the possibilities."

"You said she won't be able to carry the baby to full term" Noah spoke, "how far do you think she'll get?"

The doctor shrugged, "I really can't say. Obviously 37 weeks would be ideal but the longer we can keep the baby in the womb the better, we have had babies born as early as 24 weeks survive, obviously a baby born that early would have a long stretch in the neonatal intensive care unit before we allowed them home, but it is possible." He turned his attention to Shelby, "I'm going to call this a high risk pregnancy, it might not be but it just means we'll keep a closer eye on things right now and see how things play out." He reached into his desk and pulled out some pamphlets, "there's some information about looking after yourself in the early stages of pregnancy and some information on high risk pregnancies."

"Do you have something on, y'know babies born early?" Noah asked before shrugging, "I just want to be prepared."

The doctor nodded, "I don't have anything right now but I can get you something before you leave."

"What, what if I chose not to continue with the pregnancy?" Shelby spoke for the first time since they'd entered the room.

Noah's breath caught in his throat as Shelby failed to lift her gaze from the floor, "I can get you some information on that too" the doctor told them, "obviously it's a procedure that's easiest the earlier you have it but you have until you're 24 weeks, so it's not a decision you have to make immediately" the doctor told her as he placed more pamphlets on his desk, "go home, talk it through together, you have plenty of time to make a decision."

Noah looked at Shelby but her gaze was still fixed on the floor, "if we, she decides to have the baby, what do we do next?"

"With a textbook pregnancy the next milestone we'd be aiming for is 12 weeks, I think that's a reasonable goal for you too, if you do decide to continue with the pregnancy that would be when you had your first real ultrasound and we'd be able to get a better idea of what's going on in there."

Noah nodded, "okay."

"I know it's a lot to take in so I'll give you my card, take the information" he pushed the leaflets towards the couple, "go home and talk about it and call me if you have any questions or if there's anything you need clarifying."

"If I decided I didn't want to continue, would that, is that something you can organize?" Shelby asked, still not lifting her gaze from the floor.

The doctor nodded, "that is something I could arrange for you, like I said I'll give you my contact details and you can call me when you've made a decision, and I'll either schedule an appointment for a termination or if you decide you want to continue with the pregnancy we can arrange another ultrasound appointment. Do you have any more questions?" Shelby and Noah both shook their heads and the doctor nodded, "I'll get you the information about preemies" he told Noah, "if you just give me a moment.

Noah nodded and the doctor left the room to get the information for Noah, "Shelby" Noah spoke slowly.

"I just want to go home Noah" she whispered, tears pooling in her eyes and her voice catching in her throat. "Please."

"Of course" Noah squeezed her hand, "do you want me to ask my mom if Beth can spend the night there?"

Shelby shook her head, "I want her home, I want her with me."

"Okay. I know you probably want to keep this quiet for now but can I tell my mom? Not Hannah, just my mom, it'll give us both another person to talk things through with and she'll understand if we need her to watch Beth so we can go to doctors appointments and things."

Shelby nodded, "I erm, I'd like to tell Rachel too please, I don't want her to think that we've kept this from her."

"Yeah, that's fine." Noah smiled softly. They drove home in silence, Noah only speaking once he pulled onto Shelby's drive. "I'm going to walk over to Mom's, give us both some time to think things over. I'll be back soon." He pulled her into a hug and kissed her softly, "I love you Shelby, I love you so much."

"I love you too." Shelby tried to hold back her tears as she allowed Noah to hold her tightly.

"Call me if you need anything." Noah told Shelby, kissing her again.

Noah walked slowly to his Sarah's house, "Hannah, can you take Beth upstairs please?" Sarah asked as Noah walked through the door. She took one look at her son and knew something was wrong, "I need to talk to Noah." Noah kissed Beth and promised he'd see her soon before Hannah grabbed some toys and a pile of books and left the room. "Noah" she said softly and that was all it took, Noah burst into tears and collapsed into Sarah's arms.

"Shelby's pregnant" he sobbed, "she's pregnant and I don't think she wants to keep it."


	9. Chapter 9

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** -I want to address a review left by ABC, I would have preferred to do this by private message but s/he went anonymous. In the Rachel/Lyla fic the medical element was that Lyla was born early, I'm sure that many people would have been annoyed if Lyla had gone from being sick to being well seemingly overnight. And in this fic the last chapter was the first chapter that has had any real medical elements in it. I know Beth was sick in a previous chapter but that happens, kids get sick. I had Shelby/Noah see the doctor because I didn't necessarily want to go down the route I have read before where Shelby miraculously gets pregnant and everything is fine because she's said in the show she can't have children, so there must be a (medically related) reason for this. If you want to discuss this further then feel free to pm me, but if how/what I write really bothers you that much I'm sure there are hundreds if not thousands of fics on here that don't have any medical elements at all for you to enjoy.

Ideas are VERY welcome.

Reviews/concrit are loved.

* * *

><p>"She's..." Sarah was just as shocked as Noah had been when Shelby told him the news. Noah nodded and moved to sit on the sofa, burying his head in his hands, "Oh Noah" Sarah sighed and moved to sit beside her son, "talk to me Nono".<p>

"They said they don't know what's going to happen, the doctor said everything looks okay now but they don't know what's going to happen further along, they said she might lose the baby and if she doesn't it will probably be born early. Shelby asked what would happen if she didn't want to have the baby. It was the only thing she said Mom, the only thing she wanted to know was if she could get rid of it."

"Oh baby" Sarah felt her heart for Noah and for Shelby, "this must have been a big shock for you both."

Noah nodded and explained Shelby's medical history, "she didn't think she'd ever be able to have another baby, she thought we'd have to adopt to have another child and now we've got the chance to have a baby of our own and she wants to get rid of it."

"I don't think she necessarily wants to get rid of it Noah, I think she just wants to be able to consider all her options."

"I want this baby so much Mom" he sighed, "but I'm scared" he admitted something he didn't like to admit.

"What of?"

"What if something happens to Shelby, what if she keeps the baby because she thinks it's what I want and something happens and I lose them both, I couldn't cope with that Mom, I can't, I can't..."

"Did the doctor say that keeping the baby would put Shelby at risk?" Noah shook his head, "No' I'm sure that if having this baby would put Shelby in any danger you would have been told that, that's not something they would keep from you."

"I want her to keep it Mom but I don't want her to feel like she has to keep it because that's what I want. I won't, I don't know what to do Mom, I know I need to go home and talk about this with her but what do I say, what do I do?"

Tears were rolling freely down Noah's face by now and Sarah pulled her son into a hug, "I can't answer that for you Noah. I think that the two of you should take some time out, I assume the doctor gave you some things to look over?" Noah nodded, "okay so the two of you need to take some time out, read everything the doctor gave you, give it some time to sink in and then talk it over, if you make the wrong decision now you'll never forgive yourself. Don't rush the decision Noah. Do you know how far along she is?"

He nodded, "the doctor said about 7 weeks."

"Okay, so you have plenty of time to make a decision, whatever that decision is make sure it's one you don't rush and please don't just go with whatever Shelby wants, you need to tell her how you feel and what you want. This is your baby too Noah, don't think telling her what you want isn't allowed"

Noah nodded, "I won't, I mean I'll tell her what I want."

"Do you want me to have Beth tonight?"

Noah shook his head, "I suggested it earlier but Shelby wants Beth home."

"Okay. I think you need to go to the bathroom and clean your face before Beth comes down, I take it you're not telling her right now?"

"We're not telling anyone Mom, I mean she said I could tell you and I said she could tell Rachel but we're not telling anyone else, don't tell anyone please, not even Hannah."

"It's not my news to tell Noah, who you tell and when you tell them is up to you and Shelby."

Noah leant over and kissed Sarah's cheek, something he'd not done since he was a lot younger, "thanks Ma."

"It's okay Noah" she smiled at him, "you and Shelby are strong together, you'll get through this."

"I hope so, I really do."

Noah got home almost an hour after he dropped Shelby off to find the house seemingly empty, "where's Momma?" Beth asked as she dropped to her knees to play with Bruno, "I thought you said she was home."

"She is, I mean she was, you stay with Bruno and I'll go see if she's upstairs."

"Can we go play fetch in the garden?"

Noah nodded and walked through the house to unlock the kitchen door, "you stay in the garden okay, you don't go anywhere else without telling me first."

Beth nodded and took Bruno's favourite ball from the box of dog toys in the kitchen, "I promise Daddy" she grinned before skipping out of the house.

"Shelby." Noah found her curled into a ball on the bed sobbing, her pillow wet with tears and the information sheets the doctor gave her scattered on the bed. "Oh Shelby" he climbed onto the bed behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, "it'll be okay" he told her, "we'll be okay."

"Don't" she whispered, "don't promise me that when you don't know it's true."

Noah sighed, "I know that I love you and that you're stronger than you sometimes think you are. Whatever happens, it might take a while but we'll be okay in the end Shelby." She sighed and he knew she didn't believe him, "Beth's playing with Bruno outside, I think she'd like to see you."

"Does she, does she know anything's wrong?"

"No, she asked where you were and I told her to play with Bruno while I came to find you. You need to get yourself together" he told her, "wash your face and come and join us downstairs, I'll tell Beth you were taking a nap, we can talk, cry, cuddle, whatever when she's in bed" he kissed her cheek, "I love you Shel."

Shelby nodded and sighed again as Noah stood from the bed, "I love you too Noah."

"Did you find her Daddy?" Beth asked as she rolled on the grass with Bruno, playfully trying to get him to part with his favourite chew toy.

"I did" he smiled crouching down to ruffle the fur between Bruno's ears, "she was upstairs having a nap, she'll be down soon." He stood back up, "I'm going to make a start on dinner, do you want to help me or are you going to stay here with Bruno?"

"I want to help you Daddy" Beth grinned, "can we have chicken?"

"I thought we could make a pie" Noah told her, "but we could make a chicken pie if you want."

"Can we put vegibles in the pie?"

Noah chuckled Beth was a strange child, unlike the other kids in her class she loved vegetables, "let's go and see what vegetables we've got in the fridge then" he picked up his daughter and span her round in the air before sitting her on his side, "come on stinky."

Noah measured out the ingredients for the pastry and allowed Beth to mix it and roll it out as he peeled and cut the vegetables and prepared the chicken, "all done daddy" Beth smilled up at him.

Noah smiled and blinked back tears, he knew that Beth would make a brilliant big sister, he hoped that one day she'd get the younger sibling he knew she'd adore. "Okay" he forced a smile, "let's get that pastry into the dish and fill it with chicken and vegetables and gravy."

"Hey" Shelby smiled slightly as she walked into the kitchen, "what are you up to?"

"We're making a pie Mommy" Beth smiled, "come help us."

Shelby walked over to the counter Beth was sat on, "did you help with the pastry Bee?"

Beth nodded proudly, "I did it all myself Momma, Daddy put all the 'greedients in the bowl and I mixed it and I rolled it out real nice Momma."

"You're covered in flour" Shelby told Beth, you've even got it in your hair.

"I'm okay Momma" Beth smiled at Shelby, "I can have a bath 'fore I go to bed."

Beth's mindless chatter broke the silence over the dinner table and it was only after Shelby and Noah were sure she was fast asleep that they allowed themselves to talk about the subject they'd been avoiding all evening, "you, you want me to keep it don't you?" Shelby asked Noah.

"Not if it's not what you want to do" Noah nodded, "but I think we've been given this chance, it seems silly to throw away something we both know we want."

Shelby knew he was right, they both wanted this child, "I know, but it's not as simple as that is it Noah? If it was the case that I was pregnant now and in a few months time we were going to have a perfect, healthy little baby, you know I'd be so excited about this but that's not going to happen." Shelby sighed and wiped away the tears that had slipped from her eyes, "there's so much that could go wrong, even if I don't miscarry Noah, there's still the chance that the baby could be premature, they could have a number of disabilities, I might not get to be Mommy anymore Noah, I might have no choice but to become the nurse to our child, that wouldn't be fair on Beth for a start. I don't want her to hate me because I have to give the baby more attention than I can give her. I don't think that's something I'd be able to do Noah. It sounds awful but you'd get to leave the house every day while I stayed home. I don't know if I'd be able to live with myself if our child had no quality of life all because we were selfish."

Noah sighed, he could see where Shelby was coming from, "that might not happen though Shel, there could be a baby in there that's going to grow up to do all sorts of amazing things and we'll never know about it if we don't give it a chance."

"It's a lot to risk though Noah, now we know that I have some eggs that are capable of making babies and we've never doubted your fertility, we could get someone else to have our baby, someone who doesn't have the problems I have."

Noah ran his hands through his hair, "My ma used to watch the health channel all the time, we could get a surrogate to have a baby for us and she could have an accident or get sick and we could still have all the problems you're worried about." He sighed again, "At the end of the day Shel it's your body, I won't force you into anything you don't want to do and I won't leave because of the decision we make but I don't want to spend the rest of my life thinking 'what if'. If we have a child that needs a little or a lot of extra care you won't have to do that on your own Shelby, I'll be here, I'll be here if you want me to look after the child while you work, I'll be here if you want us both to work and pay for a nurse. I mean we could even both work part time, we'd work something out, but we could be worrying about nothing, our biggest worry might be how to stop Beth putting the baby in her doll's buggy or how to stop the baby eating Bruno's dog food. No one knows what's going to happen, I get that that scares you, it scares me too, and you're right something bad might happen but there's an equal chance that something amazing might happen."

"I can deal with something amazing Noah, I can cope with a healthy baby, it's the bad things I don't know if I could deal with. I think I just need time Noah, I need to read all the things we got from the doctor and I need to think about things, I, I don't have anyone else but you to talk this through with."

"You can talk to my Ma."

"I don't, I mean, don't you think she'd mind?"

Noah shook his head, "of course not. She's my mum but she's your friend too Shelby. She's working a late shift tomorrow so she won't be leaving til about three. Call her in the morning and go over, she won't mind Shelby, she won't mind at all."

Noah was right, Sarah didn't mind Shelby going round at all, "you look like you didn't sleep well" Sarah said as Shelby walked through the door.

Shelby shook her head, "I don't think Noah did either, we've got a lot to think about."

"I know" Sarah sighed as she gestured for Shelby to sit on the sofa, "I wish I could do something to take this away from you both" she sighed again, "can I get you a drink?"

Shelby nodded slightly, "water's fine."

Sarah walked into the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with two glasses of water which she placed on the coffee table before sitting beside Shelby, she studied the woman for a minute before smiling sadly and taking Shelby's hand in her own, "it's a tough decision hey?"

Shelby nodded and her eyes filled with tears, "I want it, I want it so much but I don't think I can Sarah."

"Why not? You're a strong woman Shelby, you're a strong woman and a brilliant mother. Noah loves you and he'll support you whatever happens I'll make sure of that. You have Rachel, Hannah, I'm not going anywhere. We all love you and we'll all support you baby or no baby."

"I'm scared" Shelby admitted, "I don't know what I'd do if I lost the baby, I know it already means so much to Noah, I just think that if I did it this way, as awful as it sounds, it's my choice and I think that for me at least that would be easier to deal with than it just happening. I don't want to hurt him Sarah. I wish I could do this for him but I don't think I can."

"I know you don't want to hurt him, and I wish I could tell you what to do or make the decision easier but I can't, I'll just tell you what I told Noah, that this is something the two of you need to talk about, you both need to take some time to work out how you feel and what you want and then you need to sit down and tell each other what you want."

"The doctor said it was unlikely that I'd be able to carry a baby to term. I read the leaflet he gave us about preemies, about the problems they can have. I need to think about Beth too. I don't want her to feel pushed out if Noah and I have a baby that has special needs. But Noah thinks I'm focusing too much on the bad things, and that I need to remember things could be fine."

"Not all preemies have special needs Shelby. There's something I've not even told Noah because I know he'd just worry, but it took the doctors almost 9 minutes to get Hannah breathing when she was born. She wasn't a preemie but they told me her brain had been starved of oxygen and there was no telling what damage was done, they told me she might never walk or talk, that she might not have any quality of life. One doctor even told me that no one would judge me if I put her in care. I'll tell you what damage was done Shelby, Hannah only has 85% hearing in her left ear. That's the only thing that's ever been wrong with her and for all we know she could have had that even if she'd taken her first breath straight away. They have to prepare you for the worst, it's better for them to tell you the worst thing is going to happen and then find out that your baby is absolutely fine than for them to tell you your baby will be fine and then you find out that there's something seriously wrong. I understand that you're worried about all the things that might go wrong and that's okay, but like Noah said there's a chance that everything will be fine."

"I know" Shelby sighed, "there's just so many 'what ifs' to think about. I know that if I didn't have all the problems I do have I wouldn't think twice about keeping the baby. I hate knowing that it's my body that might put my child at risk."

"This isn't your fault Shelby, whatever happens you can't blame yourself."

"It's not that easy though is it Sarah?"

Noah and Shelby talked about almost nothing but their unborn child for the next three weeks before they finally came to a decision. "We should call the doctor" Noah suggested once they were certain, "do you want me to do it?"

Shelby shook her head, "I'll go do it now, where did you put his card?"

"It's in the top drawer of your desk with all the other stuff he gave us."

Shelby left the room and found the doctor's card exactly where Noah said it was, "Hi, it's Shelby Corcoran" she said after the receptionist put her through, "Noah and I have talked things through and we've made a decision."


	10. Chapter 10

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** -I'm back :D A couple of you mentioned how much you like Sarah so there's a lot of Sarah/Shelby interaction in this chapter. It's just a bit of a filler for now but I didn't want to keep you waiting for too long to find out if they decided to keep the baby or not!

Ideas are VERY welcome.

Reviews/concrit are loved.

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><p>"How are you feeling?" Sarah asked Shelby as she handed her a mug of coffee and moved to sit beside her.<p>

Shelby thanked Sarah for the drink and leant back into the soft cushions of the sofa, "it's weird" she allowed her free hand to wander to her still flat stomach, "I don't actually feel pregnant at all. With Rachel I was throwing up constantly almost from before I knew I was late, with this one I've not even felt the slightest bout of nausea."

Sarah smiled, she was glad Shelby and Noah had decided to keep the baby, "maybe this one's a boy" she smiled jokingly.

Shelby smiled too, "I'd like a boy" she admitted, "it'd be nice to have a boy and a girl but I think Noah wants another daughter, I think he's worried about having a teenage 'Puck' to deal with."

Sarah rolled her eyes, "it'd serve him right, you and Beth could come live here for a few years and we could let Noah see what he put his poor old Momma through. Although saying that at least he never had the mood swings and tantrums that Hannah put me through for a couple of years, she seems to be through the worst of it now though touch wood." She leant forward and tapped the wooden coffee table in front of her. "Have you thought of any names yet?"

"No" Shelby shook her head, "we, erm" she bowed her head, "we're not doing anything like that until we're sure everything's going to be okay. I know we decided that we're keeping it but we're still not trying to get our hopes up too much just in case..."

"You're twelve weeks though" Sarah said optimistically, "that's a big milestone in any pregnancy."

"Yeah" Shelby sighed, "there's still a long way to go though."

"True, but this is the best part, you've not reached 'beached whale' status, like you said you've got no nausea, the doctors aren't worried about anything right now. This is the time you need to enjoy before the joys of aching boobs, a constant need to pee, stretch marks and swollen ankles."

Shelby laughed, "don't talk about aching boobs, I feel like someone crept in one night and swapped my old boobs for ones made of concrete, and I've got my next ultrasound on Monday, they might find something to worry about."

"Welcome to the joys of growing a new person, if they're not aching they'll be leaking. I'm glad my baby making days are over. And you don't know that, you've not had any worrying symptoms so the chances are everything will be fine. I know it's easy for me to say but the more you worry and get stressed about things the more stressed the baby will be. As hard as it sounds you just need to relax and not worry until you know there's something to worry about."

Shelby nodded, "I guess you're right, I think the further along I get the less I'll worry, I think every week I get past 24 weeks will be an achievement. And you don't paint a very appealing picture of pregnancy!"

"I don't need to, I'm not the one that's going through it. And if you're aiming for 24 weeks then you need to keep telling yourself now that you're over half way there, and if you're aiming for 37 weeks which is full term then you're a third of the way there give or take a few days. Instead of worrying about how long you've got left to go think about how much is already behind you."

Shelby visibly relaxed, "I,I never thought of it like that, I know 12 weeks is a big milestone but 24 weeks is a huge one and I'm already halfway there. It's going to get harder though, I mean the doctor said he didn't even know whether or not my womb would stretch for the baby to grow."

"This baby" Sarah laid her hand on Shelby's stomach is half Puckerman and half Shelby Corcoran. If anything that means it's going to be one hell of a fighter Shelby. Almost every day the survival rates for preemies gets higher, you're not big yourself so your baby might naturally be small so your womb won't have to stretch as much. Mother Nature knows what she's doing, all you've got to do is take your prenatal vitamins and look after yourself."

"I don't think I'll be forgetting to take my prenatal vitamins any time soon. If Noah's home in the morning he makes breakfast and puts them by my plate or my bowl, if he's working he leaves them with a note and a glass of water by my bed. You'd think I wasn't capable of getting them from the bathroom myself."

"He's doing it because he cares about you, but if you feel like he's suffocating you or going over the top or something I can have a word with him for you."

Shelby shook her head, "it's okay. Thanks for the offer but you're right, he's excited but at the same time he's terrified. I just have to remember that I'm not the only one having this baby."

Sarah nodded, "and you have to remember you're not on your own, if you're worried, or scared about anything, hell, even if you're crazy excited about something, whatever you're feeling you don't have to feel it alone."

"Yeah" Shelby nodded, "I know."

"Have you decided when you're going to tell Beth yet?"

"No" Shelby shook her head, "not yet. Noah and I have talked about what we're going to tell her and we've decided to be honest and tell her the baby might be born too soon and it might be sick for a while but we think Beth might start asking questions about where she came from and we're still trying to figure out how to explain it to her without confusing her. We want to be honest with her though, we don't want her to be one of those children that doesn't find out they're adopted until they're 18 and then hates their parents for keeping it a secret."

Sarah nodded, "just make sure she knows that she might have grown inside someone else but you're her mommy and Noah's her daddy and you'll both love her just as much as you'll love the baby."

Shelby felt her eyes fill with tears, she might not be having morning sickness but she had noticed she was more emotional than usual, she'd even cried at a story about a cat on the evening news a few nights ago. "I don't want her ever thinking I don't love her" she whispered as tears began to roll down her cheeks, "I messed up so much with Rachel, I don't want to screw Beth up too."

"Hey" Sarah took Shelby in her arms, "you did what you thought was best with Rachel, you learnt from your mistakes and you made things better Shelby, there's nothing you can do about that so don't dwell on the past because there's nothing you can do about it, you're building a relationship with Rachel and it's going well, that's what you should be focusing on. And as for Beth, she knows you love her, she's happy and she's turning out to be a beautiful, kind, friendly young girl. She's only able to become the girl she's becoming because she feels safe, loved and supported, she's not insecure, she's not clingy, if she goes away she trusts you enough to know you'll be there when she gets back. She's open with you right? She doesn't keep things from you? She tells you when things are upsetting her?" Shelby nodded, "then she's obviously feels like you love her enough to comfort her and not judge her. Being a parent is tough Shelby and I'll be honest, when he was young, parenting Noah was a million times easier than Hannah, but I think you're right on track and I'm not saying that because Beth is my granddaughter, I honestly think you're a great mom to that girl and I know you'll be a great mom to the little one you're carrying too."

By now Shelby's tears had turned into full blown sobs, "I'm sorry" she sobbed into Sarah's shoulder, "I'm sorry."

Sarah held Shelby tighter and began to rub her back, "you've got nothing to be sorry for Shelby." She rocked and held Shelby until she finally calmed down, "are you okay?"

Shelby nodded and wiped at her eyes, "Yeah" she sniffed slightly, "I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from."

"You don't need to apologise Shelby, when I was pregnant with Hannah I cried about everything. I broke down in Walmart once because I couldn't find the shampoo I wanted. It turned out I was looking on the wrong shelf" she laughed at the memory, "and I remember Noah bringing home a spelling test or something from school and he'd got like 95% or something, he'd done really well and I cried when he showed it me, poor guy thought I was upset that he hadn't got full marks. You don't have to go through this alone, if you need to call me or come over just so you can cry for an hour or you want to moan about how sore your boobs are, or there's anything else you don't feel comfortable speaking to Noah about you can come to me. It's been a while since I've been pregnant and you know me, I won't sugar coat anything but I'll be here if you want to talk to someone that's been there."

"Thanks" Shelby smiled, "I know this isn't the first time I've been pregnant but before, with Rachel, I felt like I could only share the good things with Hiram and Leroy, they wanted to know how well their baby was doing, how many times she'd kicked, they didn't want to know that I'd been awake since 4am with heartburn. This is the first time that I've been pregnant and had to make any decisions at all. Hiram and Leroy decided when I needed to see the doctor, they picked the brand of prenatal vitamins, they told me which tests they wanted me to have, they even chose the hospital they wanted me to deliver at and which pain relief they were comfortable with me having. I'm sure they'd have chosen when I gave birth too if they could have."

Sarah smiled sadly, she knew Shelby regretted signing Rachel over to the Berry men, she knew that Rachel had been brought up well but she regretted signing over all rights to seeing her daughter grow up. "If Noah tries to force you into anything you let me know, I'll sort him out."

Shelby laughed, "thanks but I don't think he'll force me into anything, I'm not the only one that's done a good job bringing up her children."

"Thanks" Sarah smiled and squeezed Shelby's hand, "Noah's not working tonight is he?"

Shelby shook her head, "No, he finishes at three and he's off for a whole 51 hours" she smiled, "he's not on call either so we get him for almost the whole weekend."

"I'm not at work until lunch time, how about I fetch Beth from school and have her tonight, you and Noah can have some time together and I'll either bring her over in the morning or Hannah can bring her over after lunch. I bet it's been a while since you and Noah spent some time together without Beth."

"Yeah it is." Shelby nodded, "but we make the most of the time we do get together. I think Beth wants to spend some time with him too though."

"She'll have him tomorrow and Sunday, don't feel bad about wanting some alone time Shelby."

Shelby nodded and smiled, "it would be nice to be able to sleep in a little bit in the morning." She paused for a moment, "if she says she wants to come home will you call me?"

"Straight away" Sarah promised, "you know I will."

Shelby smiled, "thank you. Do you need me to bring anything over?"

Sarah shook her head, "No I think we're good, I've got pyjamas and clothes for her."

"I'll bring her bear over."

"Sure" Sarah nodded, "we'll have a great time."

It had become unusual for Noah and Shelby to both fall asleep together and wake up together, especially when they were allowed to wake up in their own time without Beth waking them up. Noah's shift work meant he was either out at work when Shelby went to before he'd left for his shift by the time she woke up. But Noah had finished work at 3pm the previous day and he wasn't working until 7pm the next. Beth had slept at Sarah's without a problem and the couple were enjoying being able to snuggle under the duvet without worrying about what chaos Beth and Bruno were causing downstairs. "I had a dream about the baby last night" Shelby admitted sleepily as she laid with her head on Noah's chest.

"Oh Shelby" Noah sighed, beginning to play with her hair, "you should have woken me." It had been just two weeks since they had decided to keep the child she was carrying but there had been several times she'd woken in tears because she'd dreamt that she'd lost the baby, a dream so vivid she wasn't sure if it was a dream or reality for a few minutes after she'd woken.

"No, no, not like that" she tried to reassure him, "I was in the hospital, we'd had a little girl and we called her Annie. She was so beautiful Noah and I knew she was a girl but the doctors kept telling me she was a boy and then your mom came in and yelled at us for calling her grandson Annie."

"Maybe it's a sign" Noah chuckled, "maybe the doctors will tell us we're having one but we'll end up with the other."

"I don't think I want to find out" Shelby said quietly, "if I get that far, I mean I don't mind if you want to find out but I think I'd rather wait."

Noah kissed her forehead, "I don't think I'd be able to keep something like that a secret so if you don't want to know it's probably best if I don't find out either." Shelby opened her mouth to protest but Noah continued, "I mean it's not like I'll never get to find out." They sat in silence for a minute before Noah spoke again, "I like Annie" he said cautiously. He and Shelby had agreed they weren't going to prepare for the baby until they knew it had a decent chance of survival, "Annie Corcoran's got a ring to it."

Shelby shook her head, "I don't know what we'll call the baby, I don't even know for sure that we'll have a baby at the end of all this, but I do know I want any children we have in the future to have your surname. I, I'd like to change Beth's surname too. When the baby's born I mean, if you don't mind."

"Mind?" Noah couldn't help but smile, "of course I wouldn't mind."


	11. Chapter 11

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** -Ideas are VERY welcome.

Reviews/concrit are loved.

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><p>Shelby was now almost fifteen weeks pregnant and so far everything was going well, at her twelve week check up the doctor had told her everything was fine, that she was carrying a little bit more water than 'average' and that the baby was slightly smaller than they'd like but that there was nothing to worry about yet and it was just something they needed to keep an eye on. The doctor had arranged to see her again at sixteen weeks but told Shelby if she thought anything at all was wrong she had to call him and make an appointment sooner. She didn't know Noah had spoken to the doctor about taking Shelby on vacation and was currently planning their first family holiday.<p>

"Oh Bruno" Shelby sighed at the dog who laid by her feet, "I've got so much to get done but I really don't want to move." She sighed again before slowly pushing herself to her feet and beginning to walk towards the kitchen where there was a large pile of clothes on the table that needed folding and putting away. She'd barely moved from the sofa when it hit her, a pain so strong she felt like she'd been stabbed. She yelped in pain and fell to her knees, her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach. This was it, she knew it, she was loosing the baby. She yelped again as another pain hit her and Bruno was quickly by her side, he might officially be Noah's dog but he was fiercely protective of Shelby and Beth, Noah had said on several occasions that he felt safer leaving Shelby and Beth to work a night shift now he knew they had Bruno to watch them.

She felt tears come to her eye as the pain refused to go away, it was too much and she closed her eyes only for Bruno to lick at her cheek and begin yelping, "okay boy, okay" Bruno knew something was wrong and wouldn't leave Shelby's side. She closed her eyes again and he left her side, Shelby didn't know how but he somehow managed to get her phone from the coffee table, this time she didn't respond when he licked her face so he yelped louder and nipped at her shoulder with his teeth, "I'm here" she said groggily before Bruno yelped again and nudged the phone closer with his nose, "clever boy" Shelby praised the dog, forcing herself to reach out and stroke his head before she took the phone from the floor and called Sarah, "it hurts" she whispered, "it hurts so much."

She didn't say any more, she didn't need to. Sarah raced round and found Shelby curled into a ball on the floor with Bruno curled tightly into her side, licking her face and barking every time she closed her eyes, "Shelby, Shelby can you hear me?"

Shelby groaned in response and Bruno moved back slightly, "hurts" she mumbled.

"I'm going to call for an ambulance Shelby, we need to get you to the hospital."

"I think I'm loosing the baby" Shelby admitted after Sarah had called 911.

"Do you feel like you're bleeding or is it just the pain?"

Shelby took a shaky breath, "I don't, I don't think I'm bleeding but it feels, it feels" she groaned again as the pain overtook her, "oh God it hurts."

Sarah nodded, "Okay, do you think you can get up?" Shelby nodded and with Sarah's help she moved to sit on the sofa to wait for the paramedics. "Is it a constant pain?"

Shelby shook her head, "I feel a bit achy but I keep getting stabbing pains" her eyes filled with tears again, "I can't, Sarah I can't loose this baby, I, I"

"Oh Shelby" Sarah pulled her into her arms, "no one's said you're loosing the baby, if you're not bleeding that's a good sign, the cramps could be any one of a number of things so let's not worry until we've seen the doctor and we know for sure."

Shelby was asleep by the time she reached the hospital, the paramedics had given her some painkillers that had completely knocked her out. Luckily Sarah had intercepted the paramedics before they'd given her a shot of morphine and it seemed like whatever she'd been given hadn't had any negative effects. "How is she?" Noah asked as he burst into the room, "is she okay? Is the baby okay?"

Sarah nodded, "they don't know what caused the pain, they've given her some painkillers and they've knocked her out, they've sent some blood off to the lab and they found the baby's heartbeat, it's a little fast but it's good and strong, the doctor said he'll do an ultrasound when she comes round."

"The little one's grown a lot over the past couple of weeks" the doctor told Shelby and Noah as he performed the ultrasound later that afternoon, Sarah had left to collect Beth but only after making Noah promise to call her as soon as they knew anything. "I can't see anything physically wrong with the baby or with you Shelby so the only thing I can assume is that the pains were caused from the scared parts of your uterus beginning to stretch."

"Is this something I'm going to get until I have the baby?" Shelby asked.

"I honestly can't say, you could have the pain throughout the pregnancy or you could be fine once it's begun to stretch, like how a balloon is easier to blow up once you've stretched it slightly. We will however work to find the safest but most efficient pain relief we can."

Shelby was allowed home that evening once the doctor had sorted out some pain relief for her and Noah left her on the sofa, slightly drowsy from the painkillers, as he went to fetch Beth, "Bubbe said Momma had to go to the ho'pical" Beth said as she ran into Noah's arms, "is she okay Daddy? Is she sick?"

Tears started rolling down Beth's cheeks and Noah held her tightly, "Momma's fine baby" he kissed her forehead, "she had a bad tummy ache but the doctors have given her some medicine to stop it hurting but the medicine's made her a little bit sleepy, she's at home resting."

"Why did her tummy hurt?"

Noah smiled, "Me and Mommy will tell you about that when we get home okay." Beth nodded, "you have to be careful with Momma though, no jumping on her or anything."

"Can I still give her cuddles?"

"Of course, you just need to be careful of her tummy." He kissed her again, "now go say thank you to Bubbe for having you and bye to Hannah and we can go see Momma."

"Hey baby" Shelby grinned sleepily as Beth walked through the door with Noah. She'd changed into Noah's Mckinley titans t-shirt and a pair of shorts in the time that they'd been gone and Noah was struggling to keep his hands to himself.

"I love you Momma" Beth waited until Noah helped Shelby sit up before she climbed onto the sofa and carefully wrapped her arms around her mother.

"I love you too baby." The two continued their silent embrace for a while before Beth pulled away and kissed Shelby's stomach softly, "what are you doing Bee?" Shelby asked.

"Daddy said you had a bad tummy ache, I'm kissing it better."

Shelby smiled and ran her fingers through Beth's hair, "did daddy tell you why I had a tummy ache?"

Beth shook her head, "he said he'd tell me when we came home."

"Okay" Shelby nodded before taking a deep breath, "I've got a baby in my tummy Beth."

Beth's face lit up, "for real?" she gasped.

"Yeah" Shelby smiled, "for real. But a long time ago the doctors told me that my tummy was poorly and I wouldn't be able to have any more babies, but somehow this baby started growing but my tummy isn't really stretchy enough so as the baby gets bigger it makes my tummy hurt a little bit because my tummy isn't stretching too, do you understand." Beth nodded but Shelby and Noah could tell she was scared, "I'm going to be okay Baby" Shelby tried to reassure her daughter, "but the baby might be born early and if it is born early it might be sick and have to stay in hospital for a long while."

"Did your tummy get poorly after I was born?" Beth asked.

"No" Shelby sighed sadly, "my tummy got poorly after Rachel was born."

"Oh" Beth looked confused, "did I come from your tummy?"

"No" Shelby shook her head, "you grew in someone else's tummy. Daddy put a baby in someone else's tummy but they were both really young, they were still at school and they knew they wouldn't be able to get you everything you needed so they gave you to me because they new I'd love you and give you everything you need. But just because you grew in someone else's tummy doesn't mean I'm not your Mommy, I still love you just as much as I love Rachel and I'll love you both just as much as I'll love the baby."

Beth snuggled into Shelby's side "You're not going to send me back to the other lady?"

Shelby held Beth tightly, "Never. You are my baby Bee, I'm your Momma and Daddy is your Daddy and we both love you so much, you might have grown inside someone else but I've loved you, I've been your Mommy, you've been with me since the day you were born and nothing will ever stop me loving you. It doesn't matter how angry you are or if you're naughty or sad. We love you and we'll always be your Mommy and Daddy. Even when you're a Mommy with babies of your own we'll still love you."

"Hey Bee" Noah moved to sit on the coffee table in front of his partner and daughter, "you know if it wasn't for you Me and your Momma wouldn't be living together, your Momma let me visit you when you were a baby and it was because we spent so much time together that we realised that we loved each other and wanted to be together. I fell in love with your Mommy because of you."

Beth grinned, "really?"

Noah nodded, "yup."

"And you'll still love me when the baby comes."

"Of course I will, Bubbe still loves me even though she's got Hannah right?" Beth nodded, "And Momma still loves Rachel even though she's got you?" Beth nodded, "so there we go then, we're not going to stop loving you just because we're having a baby. You are our beautiful little girl and we will love you forever and ever and ever and ever." He held out his little finger, "I pinky promise."

Beth smiled and linked her pinky with her fathers, allowing him to kiss them before she held out her finger to Shelby, "do you pinky promise that you'll still love me when the baby gets here?"

Shelby nodded and linked her finger with Beth's. "I will always love you darling." she kissed their joined fingers, "now I'm getting tired so how about we bath you and get you into bed so we can all have an early night" she yawned.

Noah pulled Shelby into his side as he slipped under the sheets, "I spoke to your doctor earlier" he told her, "I want to take you and Beth on vacation before the baby's born, I was thinking pretty soon, like between your 16 and 20 week appointments. He said as long as you felt okay with it he'd be happy to write a note for the airlines saying you were okay to fly."

Shelby smiled, "it would be nice I guess, to have a break, we've never been on holiday together before. Where were you thinking?" she asked, "I don't think I'd want to go too far."

Noah nodded, "I've seen some good deals to the Florida Keys, and I think I saw some reasonable flights to Hawaii, I thought it might be nice to get a little bit of sun."

Shelby nodded, "The Keys sound nice, I think Hawaii might be a bit far. Did you look at the flights? How long are they?"

"To the Keys?" Shelby nodded, "about 5 or 6 hours but that includes a stop in Atlanta I think it was."

"From Columbus?"

"Yeah."

Shelby nodded and yawned, "It sounds like a good idea" she yawned again, "and I think I would like to take a vacation but I'm really tired right now, can we talk some more tomorrow."

Noah smiled, "of course we can" he kissed her head as she settled down to sleep, "I love you."

Shelby smiled, she could never get sick of hearing those three words, "Love you too."

She was just drifting off to sleep when she heard Noah whisper her name, "Oh and Shelby."

"Yeah?"

"I can't wait to see you in a bikini!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** -Ideas are VERY welcome.

Reviews/concrit are loved.

Sorry for the delay. My new baby Godson FINALLY made an appearance so I've been spending all my free time getting cuddles! Here's some fluffy vacation-ness. There may or may not be a bit of a twist coming up in a couple of chapters time so hopefully the next update won't take so long as I'm quite enjoying writing it!

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><p>"No" Beth protested as Noah lifted her from the bed, "'m tired Daddy and it's Saturday, I don't hafta go to school."<p>

Noah smiled as Beth lolled her head onto his shoulder, "I know baby" he sighed and kissed her head, "but we need to get you dressed and get you some breakfast and then you can sleep in the car and on the plane."

Beth's eyes shot open, "the plane? Today? We're going to the beach today?" She asked, suddenly wide awake.

"Yeah baby, we're going to the beach today, we'll get there this afternoon so we might not be able to spend a long time there today, but tomorrow..."

"We can be at the beach aaaaaaaaalllllllll day" Beth grinned.

"I guess so" Noah smiled, "so lets get you dressed, Momma's making pancakes downstairs."

Beth grinned and lifted her head from Noah's shoulder, "do I get to wear my new clothes?"

"Yup" Noah nodded and carried Beth through to the master bedroom where her clothes for the day were laid neatly on the bed. He helped her change from her pyjamas into knee length denim shorts and a pink vest top with a cartoon dinosaur and the word 'cutiesaurus' on the front before kissing her tousled hair, "looking good Princess" he grinned before giving his daughter a high five as she stood on the bed.

"Will you do my hair daddy so we can surprise Momma cos we're all ready to go?"

Noah nodded and laughed, "Okay baby."

Beth jumped from the bed and ran into her own bedroom, returning a few moments later with a wide cream headband, "can I wear this?" Noah nodded and picked up Shelby's hairbrush, "do you like my toesies Daddy?" Beth asked, wiggling her toes as she sat on the edge of the bed. Noah glanced down from brushing her hair and saw her tiny pink toenails had been painted a pale pink colour.

"They're great" he smiled as he pushed the headband behind her ears, "did Momma do them for you?"

Beth nodded, "yup, last night when you was at Bubbe's."

Noah grinned and lifted Beth onto his hip, "let's go and show Momma how beautiful you look."

Shelby smiled as Noah walked into the kitchen with Beth on his hip, "Morning baby" she smiled, "you were a long time, is everything okay?"

Beth nodded as Noah sat her at the table, "Daddy got me dressed and brushed my hair Momma so now I've just got to put my shoes on and my socks and my coat and then I'm ready to go on the airplane Momma" she chatted excitedly. Shelby raised an eyebrow and looked from Beth to the pile of pancakes and back at her daughter, "Oh and I need to eat my breakfast" she giggled as she reached for her juice.

"And. . ." Shelby prompted, "what do you do after breakfast?"

Beth grinned and swallowed the pancake she was chewing on, "clean my teeths."

"Yup" Shelby pointed to the clock on the kitchen wall, she'd been trying to teach Beth to tell the time for a while now, "and when the big hand is at the nine and the little hand is almost at the five, the taxi will be here to take us to the airport."

"I'm really excited Momma" Beth smiled, her mouth still full of pancakes, "like really really excited Momma, I want to be at the beach now."

"I know but we need to get there first and that's going to take a while."

Beth sighed as she continued eating her pancakes, "when will we be at the beach Momma?"

"Erm" Shelby began counting on her fingers, "we'll be getting off the plane about the time the big hand gets to the 12 and the little hand is on the 2, but then we have to drive to the hotel , it might be a little late to go to the beach when we get there today, but there's a pool at the hotel you can swim in for today and we can go to the beach tomorrow."

"Aww" Beth pouted, "I wanted to go to the beach today."

Shelby lifted Beth's chin and pecked her lips, "we'll see what time it is when we get there and how far the beach is from the hotel, but I promise baby we can spend all day at the beach tomorrow."

"Can we go to the beach every day?"

Noah shook his head and stole a piece of pancake from Beth's plate, "not every day baby, you know mommy gets tired so some days we'll just rest by the pool okay."

"But we can go to the beach some days?"

"Yeah baby" Noah kissed her head, "we can definitely go some days."

As Shelby and Noah predicted Beth slept for most of the journey to the airport and as Noah had expected, Shelby had fallen asleep too. "Daddy" Beth spoke quietly as they queued to check in.

"Yes baby?" He bent to kiss her head as she sat on their largest suitcase.

"We haven't bringed Bruno with us."

"No, he's staying at home."

"But who's gonna walk him and feed him and play with him and let him in the garden to be messy?"

Noah smiled, "Bubbe's going to go round and make sure he's okay and when Bubbe's at work Hannah's going to go see him, someone will go round in the morning and in the evening too. He'll be fine"

"Do you think he'll miss us?"

"I'm sure he will" Noah smiled, "but he'll be really happy when we get home, Bubbe and Hannah will look after him."

Beth seemed happy with Noah's answer and turned her attention to Shelby, "is the airplane going to be real big Momma?"

By the time their flight was called to board Beth was beginning to flag once again and Noah carried her onto the plane, sitting her in the middle seat between himself and Shelby. "Beth" he shook her shoulders gently as she closed her eyes, "if you want to see the plane take off you need to wake up a little bit."

"I think I'm scared Daddy" she whispered, covering her face with her hands.

"There's nothing to be scared of baby" Shelby tried to reassure her daughter, "you've been on a plane before."

Beth shook her head, "I haven't Mommy."

"You have" Shelby ran her hands through Beth's hair, "but you were only a baby, and you know that daddy and I would never let you get hurt, if it wasn't safe we wouldn't have bought you here okay."

Beth nodded, "Okay Mommy."

"I'll keep you safe Bee" Noah took her small hand in his, "how about we read a book?"

Three stories later and both Beth and Shelby had fallen asleep again. Shelby had lifted the arm rest and Beth had curled into Shelby's side, her feet on the seat beside Noah. He took a moment to take in the sight of his partner and his daughter, Shelby had her arm wrapped around Beth and Beth's small hand was splayed out over the tiny curve of Shelby's stomach, and he felt his heart swell with pride. He'd once thought he'd end up a nobody, in dead or in prison but now he considered himself to be one of the luckiest men in the world.

He carried Beth to the luggage carousel once they'd finally landed in Key West before finding a bench and sitting Beth down beside Shelby and their carry on luggage, "you two wait here" he kissed them both quickly, "I'll go get our bags and then we can get our hire car and..."

"go to the beach" Beth grinned, finishing Noah's sentence for him.

"Get to the hotel and see what time it is once everything is sorted" Shelby corrected her daughter with a raised eyebrow." Noah shook his head and turned towards the luggage carousel, "Noah" Shelby grabbed his wrist before he had chance to get too far away, "could you sit with Beth for a minute? I really need to use the bathroom."

Noah smiled and nodded, "sure thing babe."

"Wow" Beth gasped as she came to a stop by the side of the pool, "that's amazing. Can I get in?"

Shelby laughed and smiled at Noah, "didn't take her long to forget about the beach did it?" She turned her attention back to Beth, "we need to find our room and put the bags down" she gestured to the large suitcases Noah was pulling behind him having refused to let Shelby carry all but the lightest of their carry on bags. "Once we find our room we can all get changed and then we can all go for a swim."

Beth nodded, "Okay Mommy cos I'm getting really hot" she pulled at the neckline of her vest top for a moment before her face lit up, "can we get an ice cream?" she grinned."

Shelby laughed again and began to lead Beth away from the poolside, "lets find our room first Bee, we're here for nearly two weeks, we'll have plenty of time to do everything you want but right now we're going to find our room okay?"

"Yeah" Beth took hold of Shelby's hand, "I'm really 'sited though."

"Whoa" Noah gasped as he stepped into their room, "this wasn't what I was expecting."

"Me neither" Shelby nodded as she took in the room. They'd expected a standard hotel room, two double beds, a wardrobe an ensuite and a tv, the brochure had mentioned a 'kitchenette' and they'd both imagined it would be a simple microwave and fridge. Instead they found themselves stood in a decent sized living room with a sofa an armchair and a wide screen tv, the kitchenette in the corner had the expected fridge and microwave but also had a large work surface, a toaster and kettle, a two ring hob and several cupboards filled with various pots, pans and kitchen equipment. There were stairs opposite the door and Noah, Shelby and Beth climbed them to find themselves in the large bedroom which lead to the ensuite.

"Momma, Momma" Beth yelled from the balcony, "I can see the beach Momma."

Shelby walked out onto the balcony, "be careful baby" she put her hand on Beth's back, "don't lean over too far, I don't want you to fall over and hurt yourself darling."

"But I can see the beach Momma, I can see the sand and the sea and..."

"I know you can Bee, and I know you're excited but if you fall from here we wont be able to go to the beach, we'll have to take you to the hospital. You can be excited but I don't want you getting hurt okay?"

"Okay Momma" Beth took a step backwards and wrapped her arms around Shelby, "I'll be careful I promise."

"Good" Shelby kissed Beth's forehead, "now how about we go and find your swim suit so we can get in the pool?"

"Daddy" Beth smiled sweetly as Shelby applied a thick layer of sunblock to the girl's exposed back.

"Yeah?" The smile on his daughters face and the slightly whiny tone of voice warned him that she wanted something from him, usually something expensive.

"Can you teach me to swim? I mean for reals, without my water wings on?"

Noah smiled and nodded, "of course I can baby. But I might not be able to do it here, I mean we can start learning here but we might have to finish off in the pool in Lima okay?"

"Okay" Beth's smile melted his heart, "I'll try my bestest daddy I promise."

"I'm sure you will darling" he stood from his sun lounger and held out his hand as Shelby rubbed in the last of the sunblock, "before you try swimming on your own" he picked up the water wings from the floor, "you need to learn to swim properly with these on" he told her as he pushed them up her arms and inflated them fully.

Beth and Noah spent almost an hour in the water before he was able to take his hands from under Beth's stomach without her feet automatically sinking. "Am I doing it Daddy?"

"Yeah baby, you sure are." Noah was slightly distracted as he saw the looks the men at the pool bar were giving Shelby. Shelby, who was sat on a sun lounger wearing nothing but a bikini, a straw hat and some over sized sunglasses, hadn't noticed the men as she was too engrossed in her glossy magazine. "I'm going to get out for a while" Noah told Beth, "we don't want to do too much in one go."

"Okay Daddy" Beth grinned at him, "can I stay here and practice?"

"Sure" Noah nodded, "but you go no further than the ladder"

He pointed out the distance and Beth nodded, "okay."

Noah climbed from the pool and walked forcefully to Shelby, taking her face in his hands and kissing her passionately, "what was that for?" she asked when he finally allowed her to take a breath.

"Nothing" he grinned, "just wanted to make it clear you were mine."

Shelby smiled, "I'm going to get in the pool with Beth for a bit, are you going to join us?"

Noah nodded, "sure" he helped her from the sun lounger and turned to smile smugly at the men who had been staring at Shelby as she ran her hands over the gentle curve of her stomach, it was now obvious that she was pregnant and not just carrying a few extra pounds. "I bet Beth wants to show off what she's learnt."

"Can she keep her legs up yet?"

"Yeah" Noah laughed, "most of the time anyway. I was getting close to buying another pair of water wings and putting them on her feet!"

Shelby smiled and leant into Noah's embrace, "I know it sounds silly" she began as they walked hand in hand towards the water, "but I can't wait to see you with our baby, Beth the baby and I are all so lucky to have you."

Noah smiled and kissed Shelby's head before getting into the pool and helping her down the wide stairs, "that doesn't sound silly it sounds perfect." He kissed her again as Beth began to swim clumsily towards her parents, "and for the record I'm the one that's lucky to have the three of you."


	13. Chapter 13

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** -Ideas are VERY welcome.

Reviews/concrit are loved.

Here we go. As sort of promised, there's a little bit of a twist towards the end. I hope it's not too unbelievable"

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><p>The first week of their first family vacation flew by and they were soon just a few days away from returning to Lima. Most days had been spent by the pool where Beth had progressed from swimming with her water wings to swimming with a large foam stick Noah had bought from the shop by the beach. They'd made the 10 minute walk to the beach no fewer than eight times and Beth had made several new friends at the hotel's kid's club.<p>

They spent the eleventh day of their holiday by the pool. Noah in the water still teaching Beth to swim and Shelby lazing on a sun lounger on the edge of the pool. Even though Noah spent most of the day in the water away from Shelby he still noticed she wasn't herself even though she'd reassured him several times she was fine.

"Are you okay?" Noah asked again as he noticed Shelby fidgeting as she sat on the bed later that night as they prepared to go out for dinner.

"Yeah" she nodded as he sat beside her and slipped her fingers between his.

He squeezed her hand gently, "Sure? I mean I know you're still having the pains but apart from that."

Shelby smiled, "I'm okay,a little uncomfortable but I'm okay, I mean it's still early days but I'm starting to think we might get a baby at the end of all this."

"You're doing so well" Noah tried not to sound patronising, "you just have to keep thinking positive, that in a couple of months we're going to have a baby, a beautiful baby that has your eyes, my Jewish nose to keep my ma happy. They'll have your intelligence and hopefully not my attitude."

Shelby laughed, "they'll be kind like you, caring and compassionate. They'll have your confidence and you'll teach them how to stick up for themselves. I was always a nerdy loner at school so I hope they're able to socialise better than I could."

"And I was a bully so I definitely don't want them taking after me. So maybe it's better if they take after Ma or Hannah."

"Beth seems to have plenty of friends" Shelby told him, "so we must be doing something right."

"Yeah" Noah nodded, he could tell Shelby still had something on her mind, "are you sure you're okay Shel?"

"I'm okay" she sighed, "really Noah."

He smiled sadly, "please babe, talk to me."

"I guess I'm just worried" she finally admitted with a sigh. "About what?" "About what happens if" she took a deep breath, "if we don't end up with a baby at the end of all this, I mean I don't know, I mean. Beth" she said finally, "she's so excited, she keeps asking me about the baby, we've been looking at the websites that show you what the baby looks like, tells you how big it is, how much it's changed. She even said she'll give the baby all her old toys. How would we explain it to her Noah, what if she somehow thought it was her fault. How would we tell her that I'm such a bad Mommy that I couldn't even keep the baby safe."

Tears were rolling freely down Shelby's cheeks by now and Noah was quick to wipe them away, "babe, there's nothing wrong right now, nothing to suggest you're going to loose the baby, the two of you are both healthy and worrying about things that seem unlikely is only going to pull you down. There's only another couple of weeks to go until the baby could survive out here in the neonatal intensive care unit. And if the worst did happen, it would not be your fault." He kissed her nose, "you got that? You're doing everything you can to keep this baby safe, you don't smoke, you've not had any alcohol since you found out you were pregnant and you're eating well, you're doing everything you can do to give that baby the best chance possible. The other stuff is out of your control. And" he kissed her again, "you're such a good Mommy, your body did the impossible so you could be a Mommy again. I don't know what we'd do if we lost the baby." He placed his free hand on Shelby's growing stomach as if to reassure himself their child was safe, "but I know we'd do it together, I'm not going to leave you Shelby, we'd figure it out. But it's something I don't want to worry about unless we have to. You're healthy, the baby is healthy and right now, at this exact moment in time we've got nothing to worry about and that's all that matters okay." He wiped away Shelby's tears before kissing her damp cheeks. His Mom told him it was normal for pregnant woman to be more emotional than usual but he hated seeing Shelby cry, even when it was just because they'd run out of orange juice.

"Yeah" Shelby nodded and smiled up at Noah, her eyes still full with unsure tears. "I'm sorry" she snuggled into his side and allowed him to wrap her in a warm embrace. "I know I'm a bit of a mess at the moment, that I cry at everything and I should probably say it more often but I love you Noah and I'm so grateful for everything you do, for me and for Beth. And I know this, this pregnancy hasn't been easy and this probably isn't what you wanted in a relationship." She realised she was rambling and got straight to the point, "but I'm glad that, that it's you I'm doing it with."

"I love you Shelby. And all I want in this relationship is to be with you and see you and Beth happy. I'd still be here if we weren't having this baby, I'd be here if there was nothing wrong and we were having our eighth child. I don't feel obliged to be here or to take care of you. I do it because I love you and I want to be with you. And for the record there isn't anyone I'd rather be doing this with either." Shelby smiled and Noah kissed her softly. "Are you coming to dinner with us?"

Shelby yawned and shook her head, "I think I'm going to stay here and have an early night if you're okay to go with Beth? I know she wanted to see the dance show"

"We'll be fine" he kissed Shelby's temple, "do you want me to bring you anything back?"

Shelby shook her head, "I'm not really hungry, I'll get some toast or some cereal or something in a bit."

"Okay babe" Noah kissed her again, "See you soon. I love you" he placed his hand on Shelby's stomach, "both of you."

Shelby smiled and placed her hand over Noah's, "and we love you too."

The vacation ended all too soon for the whole family. Beth didn't want to leave the beach or her new found friends and Shelby and Noah didn't want to go back to the hustle and bustle of every day life, but there was no doubt that Shelby had become more relaxed whilst they were away, a change Noah hoped lasted once they were home.

A little over a week after they returned to Lima Shelby entered the 20th week of her pregnancy and was due to have another sonogram. They'd chosen not to find out the sex of the baby and after the sonogram and routine checks by the nurse Shelby and Noah made their way to the doctor's office so he could look over the images. "Is everything okay?" Noah asked as he saw the doctor frown.

The doctor nodded, "I'm going to see if there's an ultrasound machine free, there's something I'd like to check out for myself."

"W,what is it?" Shelby's voice shook as she feared the worst.

"It's nothing to worry about" the doctor tried to reassure the worried couple, "I think I might have found the reason you've been carrying more fluid than usual but I'd like to check to make sure before I go into any more detail."

The doctor left the room only to return a few minutes later and lead Shelby and Noah back into the same room they'd been in just minutes ago. The doctor ran the wand over Shelby's stomach before focusing on one spot towards the top of Shelby's small bump, "yes, it seems I was right" The doctor turned the screen back towards Noah and Shelby so they could see the image. "You don't know the sex do you?" Noah and Shelby shook their heads and the doctor nodded before he continued, "so as you can see we've got the baby here" he moved the wand down so the image of their child was centred on the small screen, "as you'll have seen earlier you can see the heartbeat" he pointed to the screen, "then we've got the head here and the spine, baby's got one arm up by their head and the second down here and then there's one leg here and the second right here." He pointed out each feature on the screen, "but then if you look up here" he moved the wand back over the area he'd been focusing on, "it seems like your little one has some company. There's a second heartbeat right here" he pointed to a second flutter much higher up on the screen.

"It doesn't look as strong as the first one" Shelby began to panic, the news that she was having twins hadn't hit her yet.

"It's a good heartbeat" the doctor tried to reassure her, "it's probably just the way it's laying, baby two does seem to be curled up more than baby one. The head's tucked right into the chest and the knees are pulled up here and if you" he paused to run the probe over her stomach more firmly, "yes and if you look right here" he pointed to the screen, "it looks like baby two is a thumb sucker, and maybe a little bit shy."

Shelby and Noah both smiled, it was true, the second baby was sucking on the thumb of one hand and was hiding his or her face with the other, "I can't believe there's two of them in there." Noah shook his head, "how, I mean why didn't you notice it before? Is it the same size as the other one?"

"It seems to be slightly smaller than baby one and it's tucked quite high up which might be why we didn't see it, or it may have been hidden right behind baby one. It's not uncommon to find a second baby later on in the pregnancy but it usually happens in women who have only had maybe one previous ultrasound in the very early days, I am surprised we didn't see this little one before. However it might only just have moved into the position it is now, it could have started off hiding behind some of the worst scar tissue which would have hidden it somewhat."

"But it's okay?" Shelby asked, "they're both okay?" She was so worried about the health of her children she'd not even began to process the news that her body had done the impossible twice over in the same month.

The doctor nodded "It seems as though both twins are in their own sacs and don't share a placenta" he told them.

"And for those of us that missed biology class that day?" Noah asked, his fingers still firmly entwined with Shelby's.

"It means that your twins are non identical, you made two babies."

"Well that was obvious when you said twins".

The doctor smiled and shook his head, "identical twins come from the same fertilised egg, when it begins to divide it splits too far and forms two separate embryos, non identical twins are formed when two different eggs are fertilised by two separate sperm cells. You thought getting pregnant with one baby was a chance in a million, you've done it twice over in the same month!"

"But" Shelby was speechless, "I've only had about 3 periods in over 10 years, how, I assumed I didn't ovulate any more."

"Well" the doctor smiled as he finished up the ultrasound and handed Shelby a tissue to wipe the gel from her stomach, "it seems like 20 or so weeks ago you did ovulate. Twice. Without meaning to offend, it's very common for women of a certain age to release more than one egg each month."

"You've read my file."Shelby threw the tissue into the bin as she sat up and pulled her top down. "I don't know how that's possible."

Noah helped Shelby from the table and the doctor held open the door as they made their way back to his office, "I know I'm meant to provide medical reasoning but maybe this time its a case of your body knew you wanted a baby and went to whatever lengths it took to get you pregnant."

They were walking out of the hospital almost an hour later when Noah collapsed onto a chair in the corridor, "Noah?" Shelby sat beside him as she noticed the tears rolling down his face, "Noah what's wrong."

"Twins" he mumbled, "we're having twins. There are two babies inside you." He laid a hand on Shelby's bump, "two babies."

Shelby smiled and wiped away his tears, "yeah" she smiled, "there are."

"I can't believe it. Two babies" he repeated.

"Has it just hit you?"

Noah nodded, "we thought we'd never have a baby together and then there was a baby and now. Two babies"

"Yeah" Shelby nodded, "two babies."

"How are you so calm?" Noah asked, "I mean..."

"Two babies?" Shelby guessed what he was going to say.

"Yeah, two babies." He held up two fingers, "two babies."

Shelby sighed and laid her hand beside Noah's, "I don't think it's hit me yet, it seems a bit unreal. I feel like I'm about to wake up from a dream to find I'm not pregnant at all." Shelby burst into tears and Noah was quick to pull her towards him.

"It's real Shelby, it's so real, we're having two babies." He kissed her forehead and wiped at her tears, "come on" he helped her to her feet, "Mom's working, let's go freak her out."


	14. Chapter 14

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** -Woah this website (that won't let mecall it by it's name!) has changed! Anyway I'm steaming along with this fic but I'm probably only going to aim for weekly udates so I can be writing ahead of what I'm posting if that makes sense? Someone (can't remember who & I've deleted the message sorry!) sent me a pm and asked if I could write another Shelby/Rachel scene so here you are!

As usual, ideas are VERY welcome and reviews/concrit are loved.

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><p>Noah and Shelby made their way to the ward where Sarah was working and another nurse pointed them in the direction of the staff room after telling them Sarah had just gone on her break, "Noah" Sarah gasped and jumped to her feet as Noah walked into the room, "Shelby, is everything okay?" She noticed that both Noah and Shelby had been crying and her heart sank, "what did they say?"<p>

"Sit down Mom."

Sarah shook her head, "please Noah, just tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong" Shelby said calmly, "you just might want to sit down."

Only once Sarah was sat in the chair did Shelby pass Noah the envelope the doctor had given them, "this is your grandbaby" he passed Sarah one of the ultrasound pictures and she smiled as she looked at the fuzzy image, "and this is your grandbaby's brother or sister."

Sarah's face fell and she looked up at her son before laughing slightly, "good one Noah, you had me going for a minute then."

"Sarah"

Sarah looked at Shelby and saw the look on the younger woman's face, "oh my god" Sarah looked from Noah to Shelby, "you're serious aren't you, you're having twins."

"Yeah" Shelby nodded, "we're having twins."

"Oh my God" Sarah laid her head in her hands for a moment before looking at Shelby, "is everything okay?"

Noah nodded, "Yeah, I think so, they're both a little small and the doctor said the second baby is smaller than the first but he wasn't really too worried, he said the first baby's grown quite a lot since last time."

"He wants me to try and make it to 33 weeks" Shelby told Sarah, "he said if I go into labour after 33 weeks he'll not stop it but he won't start me off until 35 weeks."

Sarah nodded, "I, I guess I should say congratulations."

"Are you, Mom, I" Sarah seemed almost disappointed and Noah didn't know how to deal with that. She'd seemed so excited when she thought they were having one baby, he couldn't help that the doctor had just found a second baby so he couldn't understand why she'd changed her mind.

"Oh Nono" Sarah saw the tears in Noah's eyes and she quickly stood from the chair and pulled him into her arms, "I'm really happy for you both" she told him, "I'm just a little shocked. I can't believe you were having one baby, I just need to get my head around the fact that you're having two. I really am happy for you Noah." She pulled away from Noah and held out her arms towards Shelby, "I'm delighted for you both." She smiled as Shelby accepted the hug she was offering, "anything you need" she whispered in her ear, "Bubbe wants to be the first person you come to."

Shelby and Noah got home to find Hannah playing with Beth and Bruno in the back yard. "Han" Noah called his sister over as Shelby went to tell Beth they were home, "can you come over a bit later? Shelby and I have got some news but we want to talk to Bee first."

She noticed the serious look on her brother's face, "is everything okay Noah? Is it the baby?"

Noah nodded, "it's nothing bad" he rubbed her arm reassuringly, "don't worry Han everything's okay."

"Promise?"

Noah nodded, "I promise"

"Can you come inside" Shelby asked Beth once Hannah had left, "Daddy and I want to talk to you about something."

"Have I done something wrong?"

Shelby shook her head and tucked a strand of hair behind Beth's ear, "No sweetheart, daddy and I need to talk to you about the baby."

"Is the baby sick?"

Shelby shook her head again, "come sit inside and we'll tell you."

"Is the baby sick?" Beth asked again once the trio were settled on the sofa with Bruno by their feet, "has it got to stay in the hospital for a long time?"

"The baby is still in my tummy" Shelby told her, "it will only need to stay in the hospital if it comes out too soon."

Beth nodded, "so what is it Mommy?"

Noah smiled and nodded, encouraging Shelby to continue, "you know how you can feel my baby right here?" Shelby took Beth's hand and pushed it firmly against her stomach.

"Yeah."

"Well when we went to the doctor today he used a special machine to take pictures of the baby in my tummy and he noticed something else." She moved Beth's hand to the top of her bump where the doctor had found the second baby, "feel that?" she asked as she pushed Beth's hand against the firmness that she knew to be the second baby's back.

Beth nodded, "what is it Mommy?"

"That my beautiful girl" Noah kissed her hair, "is another baby."

Beth looked puzzled for a moment, "so there are two babies inside your tummy?"

"Yeah" Shelby nodded, "they call two babies twins."

Beth frowned, "two babies?"

Shelby struggled to hold back a laugh, Beth's reaction was exactly the same as Noah's, "Yeah" she smiled, "two babies. But just because we're having two babies instead of one, it doesn't change anything. We'll still love you Bee, you'll still be our special little girl."

"Unless one of the babies is a girl" Beth corrected her mother.

"What do you mean Princess?" Noah asked, "even if both the babies are girls we'll still love you, we will always love you."

Beth shook her head at her father's stupidity "if the baby is a girl I won't be your special little girl" she told them, "I'll be your special big girl."

"Nuh uh" Noah shook his head and pulled Beth into his arms, cradling her like a baby, "you will always always always be my baby Bee."

Beth giggled as Noah began tickling her, "No daddy, I'm a big girl and I'm nearly a grown up."

"One day you'll be a grown up but not for a long time, do you remember what I've told you about boys?"

Beth nodded, "boy are icky and I'm not allowed to kiss a boy until I'm 45."

"That's right" Noah nodded proudly as Shelby rolled her eyes.

"But you kiss Momma daddy, you kiss her all the time."

"Yeah" Noah whispered into his daughter's ear, "But your Momma is real old."

"Hey" Shelby slapped his arm as Beth laughed loudly, "I heard that."

"Quick Beth" Noah lifted her from his lap, "run!"

Shelby left Noah to tell Hannah their news that night as she called Rachel, not wanting her to feel like she was the last to know the news. Rachel, like everyone else was shocked but delighted at the news and caused Shelby to burst into tears when she told her Mom that she couldn't think of two people better suited to parenthood. "How did she take it?" Shelby asked as she walked back into the living room after Hannah had left.

"She was shocked. Pointed out that her offer to babysit only applied to one baby at a time, she was just 'Hannah' about it" he laughed, "how was Rachel?"

"Yeah, she was shocked too, really happy for us though. She said she sends her love."

A couple of days later Shelby was surprised to answer the door to Rachel, "Rach" She wrapped her daughter in her hug, "why didn't you say you were coming over?" The two had last spoken when Shelby had called her to tell her she was actually going to get two younger siblings instead of the one she was expecting and Rachel had said nothing about visiting Lima.

"Can I come in?" Rachel asked.

"Of course you can, sorry, I'm just" Shelby shook her head, "baby brain" she smiled before stepping back and allowing Rachel into the house, "come in." They walked into the living room in silence, "Rachel's here" she told Noah.

He turned and smiled, "Hey. Shelby didn't say you were coming over."

"I, I didn't tell her I was, I was home for the weekend and I thought I'd pop in and see you all."

Both Noah and Shelby knew something wasn't right with Rachel, "is everything okay?" Shelby asked as she sat beside Rachel on the sofa.

Rachel shook her head slightly, "not really" she whispered quietly before looking at Noah, "can we talk please Mom" Rachel looked towards Noah, "privately."

"I'll be upstairs then." Noah rolled his eyes and left the room muttering something about knowing when he wasn't wanted in his own home.

Shelby looked at Rachel for a minute and she could tell something was amiss with her daughter, she just couldn't put her finger on what it was. "What's wrong Rach?"

"In late" Rachel blurted out, "I've been thinking about breaking up with him and now my period's late."

Shelby was shocked, she'd dreamed of bonding with Rachel for years, but she never imagined they'd bond over being pregnant at the same time. "How late?" she finally asked.

"About six weeks" Rachel admitted.

"Six weeks! Have you done a test, have you got any other symptoms?"

Rachel shook her head, "I'm tired a lot, I read online that could be a symptom. I, I didn't want to do the test on my own. I lied about visiting my fathers, they're on a cruise this weekend, that's why I came here, I knew there was no chance in me running into them."

"Okay okay" tears were running down Rachel's cheeks and Shelby did her best to comfort her and cursed her pregnancy hormones as she found herself on the edge of tears too, "I think there might be a pregnancy test in the bathroom, there was a time after I found out that I couldn't really believe I was pregnant so Noah bought a bunch of them." She smiled at the memory, "I'm sure there's one left somewhere." Shelby left the room and returned a few short minutes later with a blue box in her hand, "here" she smiled sadly at Rachel, "I don't think I need to tell you what to do."

Three minutes later the timer on Rachel's phone beeped, "can you go?" Rachel asked nervously, "I don't think I can look."

"Sure" Shelby smiled, "I'll be right back."

Rachel couldn't read Shelby's expression, "Mom?"

"It's okay" Shelby smiled as she sat down beside Rachel, "it was negative, you're not pregnant."

Shelby saw a weight lift from Rachel's shoulders, "I'm not?"

"You're not pregnant Rachel." Rachel burst into tears, "you're okay" Shelby began to rock her slowly, "it's okay, you're okay."

"I'm going to break up with him." Rachel whispered into Shelby's shoulder, "I, as much as I'd like to have children at some point in the future, I'm glad I don't feel like I have to stay with him because we're having a child together."

"I'll be honest, I'm glad you wont be having my grandchild a couple of months after I have my own children." Rachel laughed slightly and Shelby smiled, "why do you want to break up with him?" Shelby had only met Rachel's current boyfriend twice, but there was something about the man she didn't like.

Rachel shrugged, "I guess we've just grown apart, we hardly ever see each other and when I thought I was pregnant, the thought of spending the rest of my life with him terrified me more than the thought of being a mother, I need to get out, before, well before I end up pregnant for real."

Shelby nodded, "as long as you're happy."

"What would you have done if the test had been positive?

Shelby took a deep breath, "honestly?" Rachel nodded, "I'd probably freaked out a little bit but I'd have supported you, whatever decision you made I'd have made sure I was there for you. Even if your fathers disapproved and Adam didn't want to know I'd have made sure you knew I was here for you."

Rachel sighed and leant into Shelby's side, "Beth and the babies are lucky to have you for a Mom".

Shelby smiled sadly, "you've got me Rach, I'm your Mom too."

"I just thought..."

"You thought wrong" Shelby interrupted, "I don't care how old you are or how long it took us to build a relationship you're my daughter, you've got me and I've got you, I hope today showed you that. I'll never turn you away."

"Thanks" Rachel smiled as she curled into Shelby's side.

"You don't have to thank me Rach, I'm your mom, being here for you is what I do. If anything I should be thanking you for giving me another chance."

Rachel smiled, "let's just both be grateful for each other from not so far."

Shelby laughed and blinked back tears, "that sounds like a great idea."

"Is Rachel pregnant?" Noah asked later that night as he and Shelby laid together in bed.

Shelby looked up from the book she was reading, "Wha, I mea, how..."

"There was an instruction leaflet for a pregnancy test in the downstairs bathroom, I know it doesn't belong to me, I doubt Beth did it and I thought since you had this now" he ran his hand gently over Shelby's bump, "you didn't need to pee on a stick convince yourself that you really are pregnant any more."

"Oh right."

"So is she?"

Shelby shook her head, "No, no she's not. She thought she might be but the test was negative."

Noah nodded and kissed Shelby's temple, "good cos as much as I love you and Rach I really don't think I'm ready to be a grandad yet" he smiled as he flicked off his light and shuffled under the covers.

Shelby sighed, her family really was complicated!


	15. Chapter 15

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** - There's not much Noah in this chapter, he'll be back next time, but there's some Sarah/Shelby-ness because I know you all love Sarah! As usual, ideas are VERY welcome and reviews/concrit are loved.

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><p>Sarah was washing the dishes when her phone began to vibrate on the side by the sink. For a moment she thought about letting it go to voicemail but as she saw 'Shelby' flashing on the screen she dropped the sponge into the sink and wiped her hands on her jeans. As much as she hated to admit it she panicked every time Shelby rang, especially when Noah was working, even though out of all the times Shelby had called her only once had it been because something major was wrong. "Hello" she answered the phone just before it rang off.<p>

"Sarah" Shelby's voice was shaking and Sarah knew she's been crying.

"Shelby, is everything okay? Do you need me to come over?"

"I'm having twins Sarah, I'm having twins" she sobbed down the phone and Sarah sighed in relief.

"Oh darling" Sarah sighed in response, "I'm on my way, I'll be five minutes."

"Okay" Shelby sniffled, "thank you". It had been a little over two weeks since Shelby had found out she was having twins and just three days since Noah had told his Mom that he was worried that Shelby hadn't really reacted to the news. Sarah paused to grab a box of tissues from the coffee table and a carton of tropical fruit juice to satisfy Shelby's latest craving, and a large bar of chocolates from the fridge before walking the short distance to Shelby and Noah's. "Shelby" She tapped gently on the front door before pushing it open, "it's me."

She found Shelby laid on the sofa, her t shirt rolled up to just under her breasts and tears rolling silently down her cheeks, "and you'll have a big sister who already thinks the world of you both. She's so excited to meet you, we all are, so if you. And just hang on on there for a while. I know it's not the best place you could be and you might be running out of room but I need you to be okay, I, we all love you so much and we can't wait to meet you but we will, we'll wait as long as we need to for you to grow big and strong. I need you both to be okay" her hands stroked her stomach gently as she spoke to her children.

"They'll be okay" Sarah spoke softly so not to startle Shelby, "those babies are fighters."

Shelby sat up to make room for Sarah to sit down and pulled her top back down over her stomach "I think I felt one of them kick earlier, just after I got off the phone to you."

Sarah smiled, "see, they're telling you they're doing fine, they're telling you to stop worrying so much."

"I can't believe there are two of them in there" Shelby ran her hands over her stomach again, "I was worried about the baby being small before. Two are going to be tiny."

"They say the best things come in small packages" Sarah said optimistically, "and it doesn't matter so much if they're small, as long as their lungs are developed and they can feed well, it doesn't matter if they weigh five pounds or ten."

Shelby nodded, "the doctor said he'll give me steroids to help their lungs develop."

"That's good then" Sarah said optimistically, "I've worked with your doctor and I saw him myself when I had some problems a while ago, he's good. In fact I'd say he's one of the best."

"I'm not doubting that" Shelby paused and wiped tears from her eyes, "I just don't know if I can do it Sarah."

"Oh Shelby" Sarah took Shelby into her arms, "I'm not going to tell you it'll be easy because it probably wont be, but you have to remember you wont be doing this alone. You'll have Me and Noah, I'm signing Hannah up for babysitting duties and I'm sure Beth will want to help you out too where she can. I know I've never had twins but I was on my own when I had Hannah and I'm pretty sure Noah got up to more mischief than the rest of the kids in his class put together but I managed. I'll be honest and say that there are times now that I look back on and wonder how the hell I managed it but I did and you will too. You just have to take the good with the bad and take the really bad one day at a time."

"I guess so" Shelby chewed on her lip as she thought things through, "I know, I know I managed okay on my own with Beth for a while but three. I don't think I could manage three kids. I don't want Beth to feel pushed out especially now she knows I adopted her. I don't ever want her to feel like I love the twins more than I love her."

"Beth knows that you love her, she knows that we all love her, and that's the thing Shelby, you won't be doing this alone. Don't be scared to ask for help, no one is going to look down on you or think you're a bad mother if you need to take a break now and again. You know yourself that having a newborn can be exhausting at times, you're having two and you've already got Beth. Don't be afraid to call me and ask me to come and watch the kids because you've not had time to shower in three days, don't be scared to tell Noah you'd rather he didn't go out for a drink after work because you're exhausted and it's his night to take care of the babies. We're a family, we help each other out and support each other, no one is going to make you do this on your own. Even if you and Noah ever separated I'd make sure he still did his fair share. It took two of you to make these babies Shelby, no one is expecting you to raise them single handedly"

"Thank you" Shelby whispered into Sarah's shoulder, "I don't know how you do it but you always seem to know the right thing to say."

"It's like I tell Beth" Sarah grinned, "Bubbe's are magical!"

Shelby smiled and leant her head on Sarah's shoulder, "thanks" she smiled again, "I'm really glad you're here." They sat in silence for a while before Shelby grabbed Sarahs's hand, "here" she gasped pressing Sarah's hand against her stomach, "do you feel that?"

Sarah's face lit up, "yeah" she grinned, "hey baby" she spoke to Shelby's stomach, "I'm your Bubbe. And I can't wait to meet you." She placed her other hand on the top of Shelby's stomach where they knew the second twin was, "what about you?" Sarah asked, "are you going to say hello too?"

Shelby smiled softly and placed her hand beside Sarah's, "I feel them move sometimes, I just don't think it's enough for anyone else to feel yet."

"Make the most of it" Sarah smiled knowingly, "if they're anything like Noah and Hannah were, once they start kicking and wriggling they won't stop until they're born."

"I don't think I'll mind it." Shelby said truthfully, "I think once I feel them move I might stop worrying a bit. I still can't believe there's two of them though, and they're non identical so I somehow got pregnant twice after years of thinking I'd never have children of my own."

Sarah smiled, "I'll be honest Shelby, I can't believe it either."

"You don't think I'm too old?"

Sarah shook her head, "physically, if you were too old to have a baby you wouldn't be pregnant right now, and mentally, you are a brilliant Mom, there are so many mothers younger than you that do nothing but sit their kids in front of the tv all day. Some might say you're at the perfect age. You've done all the things you wanted to do when you were younger, you're financially stable. You've been given this opportunity Shelby, just make the most of it and don't worry about what anyone else thinks."

Shelby went to bed after Sarah left, she'd reached the stage in her pregnancy where she was constantly exhausted, she was pretty sure that if her bladder would let her she could hibernate from now until it was time for her to have the twins. Usually she had an afternoon nap on the sofa with Bruno by her feet, but as Beth was going to a friend's house for dinner it didn't matter if she slept for longer than an hour or two so she tucked herself in amongst the mass of pillows needed to keep her comfortable in bed.

It was almost three hours later when she woke and Noah was home from work, _"I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance, never settle for the path of least resistance. Living might mean taking chances, but they're worth taking. Loving might be a mistake, but it's worth making". _He was laid halfway down the bed so his head was level with her stomach and he was singing quietly to her bump.

"Hey" Shelby whispered as she ran her hand through Noah's hair letting him know she was awake, "what are you doing?"

Noah smiled and kissed her stomach twice before moving up and kissing her lips, "I was reading the baby book again, apparently their ears should be developed enough to hear us now so I've been singing to them for a while. I read somewhere that if we sing or play them the same song over and over while you're pregnant they'll recognise it when they're born and it might help settle them.

"And that's the song you've chosen?"

Noah shrugged, "I sang a few things, some Creed, Rascall flatts a bit of Aerosmith. Whatever. I read classical music might make them clever but I don't think I could sing that high while I'm still a 'full man'."

Shelby laughed, "don't get rid of those" she said seriously, "I quite like them."

Noah laughed too, "yeah, I've noticed." Shelby's cravings for weird food combinations had died down somewhat but now the only thing she seemed to crave was Noah, and it wasn't just sex, sometimes all she needed was for him to hold her and tell her that he loved her.

"I like this." Shelby said a while later, "I love Beth, I love her so much Noah but sometimes I like just being able to lie here with you, just, just doing nothing."

Noah smiled and ran his hand lightly down Shelby's cheek, "Who say's we're doing nothing? I'm laying here looking at the most beautiful woman I've ever seen and trying to work out how I got lucky enough to make her mine. And don't feel bad about enjoying the peace and quiet, we wont be getting much of it soon."

Shelby raised her hand and linked her fingers with Noah's, their joined hands resting lightly on her cheek, "I still can't believe it" Shelby sighed, moving their hands to rest on her stomach, "you've given me the two things I never in a million years, you've given me a family of my own, you gave me Beth and you've given me two little miracles, and because of you I've got Rachel in my life. And I've got you, I think that makes me the lucky one!"

"Mommy" Beth walked into the kitchen the next afternoon as Shelby was making dinner, "do you think Rachel will be my two when the babies get here?"

Shelby frowned and wiped her hands before moving to sit at the table with her daughter, "I don't get what you mean Bee."

Beth sighed, "You and daddy are a two" she explained "and there are two babies, so do you think Rachel will be my two."

Shelby didn't know how to respond, "it's not going to be like that baby, it's not going to be me and daddy then the babies then you, it's never going to be like that, it's going to be me and you and daddy and a baby and another baby, we're a family not a collection of twos."

"What if you stop loving me when the babies are here."

"That won't ever happen." That was the one thing Shelby was most scared of, Beth feeling pushed out by the babies.

"But now you love me this much right" Beth stretched out her arms as far as they would go and Shelby nodded, "what if you need to take some of that love to give to the babies?"

"I wont" Shelby thought of a way to explain it to her daughter, "it's like I get new love that's just for the babies. the love I have for you is all yours, it will always get yours, it will only ever get bigger. The love I have for daddy is all daddy's, I never took any of your love to love daddy and I won't ever use any of daddy's love to love you."

"But you said daddy has a different type of love."

"Bee darling" Shelby reached out and took Beth's hand in her own, she wished more than anything that she could pull her daughter onto her lap and hold her tightly but her bump prevented her doing that, "I don't know if you will ever really understand until you have a baby of your own but you just need to trust me, I love you so much baby, I love you so much my heart hurts sometimes because it's so full of love for you I think it might just burst. I love you so much that I can have had a really bad day, I can be tired and grumpy and angry, and all it takes to make me smile again is seeing your face." Shelby paused for a moment as she thought something through for a moment before asking "you know how you love the babies?" Beth nodded, "well do you love me and daddy the same even though you love the babies now?" She nodded again, "you haven't taken any of the love you have for me and daddy to give to the babies?" Beth shook her head and her eyes filled with tears, "that's how it works baby, you got some new love to give especially to the babies so you can still love me and daddy the same and that's how it is for me and daddy, our hearts will make more love for the babies."

"You go to the doctor a lot Mommy, what if next time he tells you there's 3 babies in your tummy?"

"He wont, when he found the second baby he looked really hard and there weren't any more babies and anyway, two babies are going to be squished in my tummy, there wouldn't be any room for another."

Beth seemed happy with this answer and nodded before moving on to her next worry "Will you still be able to play with me when the babies come?"

Shelby nodded and squeezed Beth's hand before reaching out and wiping at the tears that had fallen from Beth's eyes, "things might be a little crazy at first and I might have to play with you lots of times but only for a little bit instead of playing with you for a long time but me and Daddy have already spoken to Bubbe. When the babies are settled a little bit she's going to look after them after school one day every week so Daddy and I can spend some special time just with you. I know having two new babies in the house seems scary, I'm a little bit scared too but you have to trust me when I tell you it will be okay. It might take a little while for us to work out how to do everything we need to do but we'll work something out. I need you to be a really big girl though." She told Beth, "Daddy and I need you to tell us if anything we do is making you sad, if you think we're ignoring you, if you feel left out, anything Bee, don't be scared to come tell us. We can't make things better if we don't know anything is wrong."

Beth nodded and sniffled slightly, "Okay Momma."

Shelby smiled sadly at Beth, "come sit on the sofa with me so we can cuddle." Shelby wanted nothing else than to hold Beth tightly and tell her how much she loved her, that she loved her with every fibre of her being, and how even thinking about Beth leaving home, going to college, growing up, broke her heart. She wanted to tell Beth how depressed she was for years before she had another chance at motherhood, she wanted to tell her how she'd thought about taking her own life after messing up her reconciliation with Rachel but Beth had somehow been the kick she'd needed to sort her self out, she wanted Beth to know that everything she had now was because of a tiny pink bundle that had been placed into her arms several years ago, a tiny pink bundle that had grown into an amazing, beautiful girl. But she knew Beth was too young, that she'd never understand, so for now Shelby would settle for cuddles and kisses on the sofa.

"Mommy" Beth spoke softly as they cuddled on the sofa, Beth beside Shelby.

"Yeah?"

Beth smiled and looked Shelby straight in the eye, "you're the bestest."

Shelby smiled and blinked back tears, 'No baby' she thought to herself, 'you're the bestest.'


	16. Chapter 16

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** - I want to apologise in advance for any/all typos and errors. I'm trying to stick to my promise of weekend-ly updates, but my laptop charger broke so I had to finish and proof this chapter on my phone!

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><p>Shelby's 24th week of pregnancy arrived with another doctors appointment, "you've done it" the doctor had told her. The babies were both small but the first baby had been growing at a steady rate from the beginning and the second baby had grown significantly since it had been 'discovered'. They'd scheduled another appointment for four weeks time and asked about bringing Beth to see the sonogram. The doctor had suggested Sarah came too so she could sit with Beth while the sonographer did the 'official' ultrasound, checking everything was okay and taking the necessary measurements but then he would perform a second ultrasound afterwards to show Beth the babies and then Sarah could take Beth home while Shelby and Noah stayed behind to talk with the doctor.<p>

"Do you maybe want to start looking at nursery furniture?" Shelby asked quietly once they were home and Beth was tucked up in bed, she'd promised herself that once she made it to 24 weeks, once she knew her babies had a chance of survival, no matter how small, she'd allow herself to start thinking about buying baby items. "I don't know how long it would take for things like that to be delivered and I guess it might be nice to have everything ready. I know I'm not going to make it to 40 weeks, I don't even know if I'll make it to 30 but I don't want either of us worrying about having a nursery to decorate if we've got sick babies in the neonatal intensive care unit."

"Sure" Noah nodded, "I'll go fetch your laptop, have you thought of a theme?"

Shelby shook her head, although there were two empty bedrooms upstairs Shelby and Noah had already decided that the babies would share the largest of the two rooms to save Shelby and Noah running between two rooms if both babies woke at the same time during the night and to leave a room for Rachel to stay in when she came to visit. "I thought we could google 'unisex nurseries' or something to get some ideas."

Noah laughed and shook his head as he stood from the sofa to fetch the laptop, "you google everything."

Shelby nodded, "Google is like the god of the internet" she informed him seriously. "I like that one" Shelby pointed to a picture of a beige and brown nursery once Noah had done as he was told and looked for nursery ideas on google.

Noah shook his head, "it's boring."

"It's calming" Shelby corrected him.

"I like that" Noah pointed to a green and yellow room but Shelby shook her head.

"I'd like something more exciting, like a theme not a colour scheme. Like a jungle room but not a jungle, everyone does jungle nurseries." Noah changed his search term and several other nurseries came up on the screen, none of which Shelby liked. "My babies are going to have a horrible nursery" she sobbed, "I know it seems so shallow but this could be my only chance to ever decorate a nursery for my own child. I was renting a place when I bought Beth home so I couldn't decorate. I just want it to be perfect."

"Oh darling" Noah kissed Shelby's head and wiped at her tears, "it will be perfect, maybe we're going about this the wrong way."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe we should look at furniture and bedding before we decide how we're going to paint the walls, I mean what if you decide you want, I don't know a nursery that looks like it's in outer space but then you fall in love with sheets that have boats on. Let's look at bedding and see if anything we see inspires us." He kissed her head, "I'm not letting any baby of mine sleep in a nursery that sucks."

They looked at several websites and Shelby shook her head at every bedding set Noah said he liked, they only found a handfull of designs that were suitable for either a boy or a girl, and once they'd skipped the sets with jungle animals on most were either too plain, white, or, in Shelby's own words, "just plain nasty."

"Y'know we don't have to choose something today, we could go look round the stores at the weekend or something."

Shelby shook her head, "I want that one."

Noah hadn't even realised the page had loaded until Shelby pointed out the crib bedding she liked, "you do?"

She nodded, "yeah, do you?"

"Yeah" Noah smiled, "I do."

The bedding set was mainly pale green and blue, with multicoloured spots on the underside, however in the middle of the quilt there was an image of several cartoon owls sat on branches with the same owls featured on the crib border and several of the matching room decorations."We could paint the walls blue and green" Shelby began to get excited.

"I could ask Han if she'd paint a mural on one wall, like a tree with those owls on."

Shelby raised a puzzled eyebrow, "your sister Hannah?"Noah nodded, "I didn't know she could do stuff like that?"

Noah nodded again, "she's amazing Shelby, I saw her sketch book the other week, I knew she was good but wow. There were some pictures she'd drawn of you and Beth. It was like I was looking at a photo."

"She's drawn me?" Shelby asked, her plans for the nursery forgotten for the moment. "Why?"

"Are you serious?"

Shelby nodded, "yeah."

"She freaking adores you Shel, the kid worships the ground you walk on. I think she sees you in the same light Beth sees Han or Rachel. She heard me and Ma talking about how you'd been on Broadway once and she downloaded the musical soundtrack or whatever from itunes just to hear you, she looks up videos of you on youtube. Hell if she wasn't my sister I'd be calling the police and telling them you had a crazy stalker."

"I had no idea" Shelby was shocked, "I mean we get on, I know she likes me but, I had no idea."

"She's your biggest fan" Noah smiled, "and she always used to yell at Mom because she wanted a big sister instead of me, I think she thinks she's got one now."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

Shelby smiled, "do you think she'd want to come over to watch movies or something this weekend while you're on nights?"

Noah shrugged, "call her and ask, if I know Han she'll start counting down the hours. If you want to bond or whatever it is you girls do I'm off Wednesday and Thursday, I can pick Beth up from school and you and Han can go get your nails straightened or your hair painted or whatever."

Shelby laughed, "Are you paying?"

Noah pointed at the laptop screen, "look how much I'm going to be spending on these little people. If I'm paying I'll be doing it for you. I read something in one of those magazines at the doctors office about smushing up a banana and putting it on your hair" he shrugged before muttering to himself, "women are so strange."

The couple looked at nursery furniture for a while before Shelby's stomach rumbled slightly and Noah left to make her something to eat. Whilst he was gone Shelby decided to call Hannah, "Hey" Shelby greeted Hannah once Sarah handed the phone over, "are you busy this weekend? Noah's working nights and he doesn't really like me being in the house on my own. I wondered if you wanted to come over for a movie night with me and Beth." As Noah predicted Hannah almost bit Shelby's hand off at the offer and arranged to come over around 6 on Friday.

"Do you think we should ask Beth if she wants her room redecorating after we've done the nursery?" Shelby's mind went back to the twins once she'd eaten.

Noah nodded, "that'd be a good idea. I was going to ask her if she wanted to help us paint the nursery too. I've been reading stuff about avoiding sibling rivalry and everything says that we should make her feel like she's involved."

"Yeah" Shelby smiled, "I was thinking about taking her out and letting her pick a couple of sleepsuits or something, then maybe when they're born you or Sarah or Rachel if she's here could take her out to choose the babies coming home outfits."

Noah nodded, "I think she'd like that, as long as I can convince her she doesn't need to buy out the entire store. Kid seems to have inherited her Momma's shopping habits."

Shelby laughed, "I've drummed it into her since birth, you always buy more when someone else is paying."

Hannah could hardly wait to spend the night with Shelby and it was a little after 5.30 on Friday afternoon when she knocked on Shelby and Noah's door. "We said six Han, go home, come back later" Noah said as he opened the door.

"Shut up" Shelby slapped his arm as she came to see who was at the door, "she's my guest" she turned her attention to Hannah, "and we've told you before Hannah you don't need to knock when you come over here."

"Sorry".

"It's okay, do you want to put your bag upstairs while I get us some drinks? We can order takeout when he's gone" Shelby smiled and nodded her head towards Noah.

"Sure" Hannah returned the smile as she slipped off her shoes and headed for the stairs.

"Beth's in her room" Shelby called after Hannah, "I'm sure she'd love to know you're here."

"Shel" Noah followed her into the kitchen as she went to make the drinks she'd promised Hannah, "about Han, Mom said she's been acting really weird lately, Ma thinks she might be getting bullied or something, could, do you think you could talk to her, she might tell you stuff she doesn't want to talk to Ma, It might be nothing but..."

Shelby saw the worry in Noah's eyes, although he and Hannah fought almost constantly Shelby knew Noah was fiercely protective of his baby sister, "I'll see what I can do."

Shelby ordered pizza once Noah had left for work and both Hannah and Beth were disgusted by the older woman's choice to have both anchovies and pineapple on her pizza, "it tastes amazing" Shelby tried to convince the two girls, holding out her slice towards them, "try it."

"It smells nasty Momma" Beth held her nose and pushed Shelby's hand away.

"It's unnatural" Hannah laughed as she helped herself to another slice of the pepperoni pizza she was sharing with Beth, "fish and fruit are two things that you should never find on pizza, especially not together !"

The trio watched several disney films until Beth began to fall asleep on the sofa and Shelby decided it was time for her to go to bed. She left Hannah to choose the next DVD whilst she tucked Beth into bed and curled under a blanket on the sofa when she came back down stairs a while later. She smiled as Hannah sat at the opposite end of the sofa, "I don't bite you know" she said as she lifted the blanket and allowed Hannah underneath. Shelby remembered Noah telling her Hannah was a 'cuddler' so she wasn't surprised when during the film Hannah moved closer, instead she wrapped the girl in a loose embrace before turning her attention back to the film.

"What's it like?" Hannah asked as she saw Shelby stroking her bump with her free hand, "feeling them moving inside you?"

"It's hard to explain" she thought for a minute. "At first it's like the butterflies you get when you're nervous, only without that nasty sicky feeling. Right now they're just really fidgety though, I suppose it feels how you'd expect having two babies moving inside you to feel" Shelby laughed, "and when they're kicking it's sort of like someone elbowing you but not hard, and from the inside" she laughed again, "like I said it's hard to explain." Shelby looked at Hannah for a minute, "you've not felt them moving have you?" Hannah shook her head, "you should have said something" Shelby said, taking Hannah's hands in her own.

"I didn't know if you'd mind, I mean asking someone of you I can feel their belly seems a bit odd" Hannah explained, "and whenever I see you Mom's usually there first".

Shelby smiled, "I don't mind family feeling them kick, it's random strangers in the street that want to touch them that winds me up. Anyway" she placed Hannah's hands on her bump, "here's 'baby one' and right here is 'baby two'" she waited a moment until she felt the babies move again, "did you feel that?"

"Yeah" Hannah grinned, "I did. Doesn't it annoy you?"

"Only when I'm trying to sleep" Shelby said truthfully, "I think what happens is, I get comfy then these two wriggle until they're comfortable but then the position they're in makes me uncomfortable so I move but that makes them uncomfortable so they move. It goes on for a while. I don't really mind though, when I feel them move I know they're okay. It might be annoying and uncomfortable at times but I'd rather feel them moving than not."

Hannah nodded, it made sense. They went back to watching the film and once the twins had settled Shelby found her free hand absent mindedly playing with Hannah's hair. "Shelby" Hannah spoke quietly, "can I tell you something?"

"Sure" Shelby replied, her hand still running through Hannah's dark hair.

"You have to promise not to tell Noah or my Mom."

"I can't do that Hannah." Shelby heard the girl sigh before she continued, "I can promise not to tell Noah but if you tell me you're in any sort of danger I have to tell your Mom, if it was Beth I know I'd want to know." She saw Hannah's shoulders shaking, "are you crying?" she asked softly before turning Hannah's to face her. "Oh Hannah" she sighed, wiping at the young girl's tears. "Whatever it is it can't be that bad. Why don't you just tell me what it is and then we'll decide what to do. I promise I won't ever tell Noah unless you ask me to and I promise I won't tell your mom until we've spoken about whatever it is together, is that okay?" Hannah nodded and Shelby smiled sadly, "take a deep breath and say it" Shelby rubbed Hannah's back reassuringly, "whatever it is you'll feel better for sharing it, that I can promise."

Hannah did as Shelby told her and took breath, "I, I think I'm" she shook her head, unable to continue as she began to sob.

'_pregnant, ill, depressed, in trouble with the police_, _addicted to drugs'_ a million ways to finish that sentence ran through Shelby's head but she forced herself to concentrate on Hannah, "you're starting to worry me now Hannah" she said softly, "whatever it is, if it's upsetting you this much, you need to tell me darling. Whatever you tell me, I'm not going to get mad or angry, if it's getting you into a state like this then you shouldn't be carrying it around on your own."

"I'm sorry" Hannah sobbed into Shelby's shoulder.

"Don't be" Shelby said firmly, "I'd like you to tell me what it is that's upsetting you but I understand if you feel like you can't. You can come to me whenever you need to though, even if it's 3am, call me, we can chat on the phone or I can come over. If you don't tell me tonight you can tell me whenever you're ready."

"I'm ready now. I, I just don't know how to say it."

"Do you think it would be easier if you wrote it down and I read it?" Hannah nodded slowly and Shelby removed herself from Hannah's arms in search of a pen and paper, she found what she needed and gave them to Hannah, "I'll get us new drinks" she said, finding a reason to give Hannah time and space to write down what she needed to get off her chest.

"Shelby" Hannah walked into the kitchen a few short minutes later and placed a sheet of paper on the table with shaking hands before rushing back to the living room, not wanting to be there when Shelby read her deepest secret.

Shelby took a deep breath before unfolding the paper, heaving a sigh of relief when it turned out Hannah's 'confession' was none of the terrible things Shelby had feared. Shelby placed the paper into her pocket before walking through to the living room where Hannah was curled into a ball on the sofa sobbing quietly. "Hannah" she spoke softly, "come here" she held out her arms and Hannah almost flew at her, breaking down as soon as Shelby wrapped her arms around her. "It's okay Hannah" Shelby tried to reassure her, "it's okay."


	17. Chapter 17

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** - Sorry I'm a little late, didn't realise how busy I was going to be this weekend! I'd like to know if any of you guessed what was wrong with Hannah.

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><p>Shelby helped Hannah over to the sofa where she continued to rock her, "Hannah, sweetheart, you're okay, it's okay, this hasn't changed anything at all okay. I think you should tell your Mom though; I can be there with you if you think it would help."<p>

Hannah shook her head, "I can't".

"Yes you can, she loves you Hannah and she just wants you to be happy. She won't scream or shout Hannah, I know that."

"What if she kicks me out?"

"She won't"

"How do you know?"

Shelby sighed, "think of all the things Noah did, all the trouble he got into, did she ever kick him out?"

Hannah shook her head, "no, but this is different."

"That may be but she's your mom, she loves you and she's not going to kick you out, but just if it helps calm you down, you know that you will always be welcome here Hannah, no matter what your Mom or Noah says."

"Don't you mind?" Hannah asked.

"Mind what?"

"What I told you."

Shelby thought for a minute, _'I think I'm gay'_ the four words that had terrified Hannah but hadn't bothered Shelby at all. "I worked on Broadway." Shelby told Hannah, "I wouldn't have gotten anywhere if I'd have had a problem with people being gay. In fact" Shelby laughed at the memory, "there was a time when, for about two years, the only men I so much as kissed were gay co stars. I know it probably seems terrifying Hannah, but you have to understand, the real world is so much more accepting than a Lima High School."

"I told my friend" Hannah whispered, "I thought I could trust her but she immediately thought I was going to assault her, she told everybody. There was just one girl that stayed friends with me but then people started saying she was my girlfriend so she backed off too. I don't know if I can take it any more Shelby, everyone stares and whispers as I walk down the hall, no one will sit next to me in class or be my partner in gym, it's like they think I'm contagious."

"Oh Hannah." Shelby sighed, "I know you might think it's easy for me to say but you need to be strong. You won't be in high school forever, and one day you'll find someone who makes you feel so happy Hannah, you'll be glad you fought your way through."

"It scares me" Hannah admitted, "knowing that I'm a lesbian.'

Shelby smiled sadly, "don't force yourself into that box then. You're still so young Hannah, experiment a little. I don't mean sleep with everyone you see but if you want to date a boy, date a boy. If you meet a girl you want to date then date her. I think that sometimes people get too caught up in looking for the perfect woman or prince charming or whatever. I think you should look for someone who makes you happy, someone you want to spend the test of your life with, don't limit yourself Hannah."

Hannah squeezed Shelby so tightly Shelby could hardly breathe, "thank you" Hannah sobbed, "thank you so much."

"It's okay." Shelby smiled, "do you feel better now you've got it off your chest?"

Hannah nodded, "I'm, I mean I think I told you because I knew that out of everybody you'd be the most understanding and the least judgemental."

Shelby smiled, "working on Broadway and having a baby for two gay men does that to a woman."

Hannah sighed, "I think that gets me" Hannah said slowly, "that I'll never have children."

"Hey" Shelby laughed, "never say never, I was told by a team of surgeons and gynaecologists that I'd never have any more children, and well" Shelby laughed and ran her hands over her bump, "you know the ending to that one. And you've got the most important bits, if it came down to it you could find a sperm bank on your 18th birthday and be on your way. I knew a girl once, Lana, she was in a relationship with another woman, Kate, when they decided they were ready to start a family, Kate's brother fathered Lana's baby and a couple of years later Kate and Lana's brother's baby so their children are biologically related to both of them. They were one of the first couples to get married when New York legalised gay marriages, you're still so young Hannah, and I'm not going to try and convince you that this is just a phase because that won't help, but a lot of people experiment with a lot of things while they're young, even if it's just making out with a friend of the same sex when you're drunk, in college and spin the bottle seems like a great idea I guess what I'm trying to say is try not to worry about things that aren't going to happen yet, like babies."

"Have you ever... y'know, with a woman?"

Shelby blushed, "I made out with a lot of girls in college, usually when I was drunk and spin the bottle seemed like a good idea" Shelby laughed, "but to answer the question you're really asking then yes, I was in college, a lot of things happened in college, her name was Tanya and I guess you could say we 'dated' for little over a year. To cut a long story short we're still in touch, I'm here about to have twins with your brother and she lives in Chicago, she's married, to a man, and she's got four beautiful children, three boys and a girl. She was completely out of the closet and I was just curious I guess."

"How did you know?" Hannah asked, "that you wanted to date her?"

Shelby sighed, "I don't think I did you know, there was never a moment where I looked at her and thought 'yeah I want to be with her'. We were friends at first and it just grew from that, we'd hold hands when we walked places together, we'd kiss each other on the cheek, our first real kiss was an accident, she went to kiss me goodbye on the cheek and I turned to ask her about a lecture we had the next day, she ended up kissing me on the lips and after I recovered from the shock I kissed her back. Then we started kissing more, and without scaring you with all the gory details of my sex life, make out sessions tuned to more than make out sessions."

"Have you told Noah?"

Shelby shook her head, "God no." She saw Hannah's face fall, "not because I think he'd react badly, but because I know he'd want all the details to fuel some dirty schoolboy fantasy."

Hannah cracked a smile for the first time since she'd decided to tell Shelby her secret, "will, will you come with me when I tell my Mom?"

"Of course I will" Shelby smiled sadly as she wiped at Hannah's cheeks, "Maybe you should tell Noah at the same time".

"I, I don't think I can."

"Hannah" Shelby took the young girls hand in her own, "Noah loves you, before he went to work tonight he asked if I'd try and talk to you because your Mom was worried about you. He's your big brother and all he wants to do is protect you, when you bring your first partner home Noah won't care if it's a man or a woman, all he'll see is a person that has the chance to break your heart. Did Noah treat Santana any differently when she started dating Brittany?"

Hannah shook her head, "I, he, they stopped having 'sleepovers' all the time but other than that."

"And it will be the same for you Hannah, Noah loves you and gay or straight that's not going to change, he just wants you to be happy Hannah."

"I, I guess."

"We can walk over when Noah gets home from work tomorrow, get it over and done with, and then if you don't have any plans you could come back over here and we can have the movie night we didn't have tonight."

"I'm sorry I..."

"Don't be" Shelby interrupted her, "I'm glad you felt like you could share this with me."

As Shelby predicted, Sarah and Noah were nothing but supportive towards Hannah when she told them, and when Sarah heard about how Hannah's 'friends' had been treating her she insisted on going to speak to the principal and Shelby had promised to go with her to make sure Sarah wouldn't do anything to embarrass Hannah.

Principal Figgins had retired at the end of the last school year and no one was surprised when Sue Sylvester took his place, "Thank you for telling me this" Sue said once Sarah had explained Hannah's troubles, "I'm sure you know that I'm trying to implement a no bullying policy and I can't do anything if I don't know it's happening." Sue had made it her mission to rid the school of bullies, and in the six months since she'd been principal she'd already expelled several of the worst offenders and slushy facials were no longer a daily ritual for any of the students. "I'm going to bring Hannah and our guidance councillor to sit in while we chat." Sue told them before instructing her secretary to call Emma and fetch Hannah from her class.

Emma arrived before Hannah and Sue quickly explained the situation, "maybe we should start a support group" Emma suggested, "Hannah can't be the only student in the school that is struggling to come to terms with her sexuality. I don't mind giving up one lunch time a week to sit with them."

Sue nodded, "that could be a good idea, I'll see if Mrs Carson from the History department will be willing to sit in too."

Shelby raised an eyebrow, "a history teacher?"

"Why not?" Sue shrugged, "she married her wife in New York over the summer."

Shelby nodded in understanding as Hannah entered the room, "Mom, Shelby? What's going on?"

"Hannah" Sue spoke softly, "take a seat." She waited for Hannah to sit beside Shelby before she continued, "your mom told me you've been having some trouble because of something you told a girl in your class?" Hannah nodded, "bullying of any form won't be tolerated in this school Hannah and if you have any problems you need to come to me. I don't want anyone getting teased or bullied but I can't do anything about it if I don't know it's happening. Now I'm going to write you a pass that you can use to be excused from class to see me or Mrs Schuester at any time." Sue began to scribble something on the notepad on her desk, "and we're going to set up a support group for gay, lesbian and bisexual students to get together and, well, 'support' each other. Is there anything else you think I can do to help you?"

Hannah shook her head, "you can't go back in time and stop me telling them, you can't get me my friends back."

Sue shook her head, "you're right about that, but I can try and make things better from now on, you shouldn't have to hide who you are or how you feel, and it might be tough for a while kid but you'll make new friends, friends who don't care whether you're drooling over Brad or Angelina. We're here to support you in any way we can."

"We can set up some one to one meetings if you like" Emma suggested, "we can arrange a time once or twice a week where you can come and see me and talk about whatever you need to talk about, even if you just need to sit and cry for an hour."

Hannah nodded, "that would be good, thanks."

Emma smiled and nodded, "we can sort it out when we're done here."

Shelby sighed as she collapsed on her bed later that night, she was exhausted, Noah had had to work past the end of his shift and Beth hadn't wanted to go to bed without a kiss from her daddy, but after several tantrums and tears from both Beth and Shelby the young girl was finally asleep, an hour later than usual. "Hey" Noah walked into the room just as Shelby had finished changing into her pyjamas.

"Hi" she sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed as her eyes filled with tears.

"Shelby?" Noah sat beside her, "what's wrong?"

Shelby shook her head and wiped at her eyes, "nothing, it's just been a long day, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry" he kissed her temple, "do you want to talk about it?"

"No, I just, I think I just need to sleep it off, like I said, it's been a long day, I mean I went to the school with your mom earlier, and Beth, she missed you at bedtime, I really struggled to get her down, and these two" she rubbed her hand over her stomach, "they've hardly stopped all day. I guess I'm just tired and uncomfortable, I'll be okay."

Noah smiled and kissed her softly, "let me get changed and then we can snuggle." Shelby nodded and watched as Noah stripped off the clothes he'd worn to work before pulling on a pair of well worn, grey sweat pants. "Come on." He sat against the headboard and gestured for her to sit between his legs. _"When the weight of the world bears down so strong you leave footprints on the street, and there's too many miles to face without a few more hours sleep. The storm clouds overhead won't shed any rain to quench your thirst. I wanna be the one you reach for first."_ Noah began to sing softly to Shelby as he pulled her to lay back against his chest, his hands draped lightly over her bump he began to trace his fingers over the soft fabric of her vest top, "_When your faith is stretched so thin that you can see straight through your soul, and you can't find a nickel to buy a smile 'cos your pockets all got holes, you wanna shut the door and hide before the day can get much worse. I wanna be the one you reach for first_." He saw tears roll down Shelby's cheek and he wiped them away, kissing her neck as he continued his song, "_Fall into me, my arms are opened wide and you don't have to say a word 'cos I already see that it's hard, and you're scared, and you're tired, and it hurts and I wanna be the one you reach for first_."

"Noah" Shelby's voice shook as tears took over and she began to sob.

"Oh darling" Noah carefully moved Shelby so she was laying down beside him, "it's okay" he wiped at her tears, "it's okay." Noah looked up as the bedroom door creaked open and Beth walked slowly into the room, her own tears wet on her face, "Bee?"

"I, I want to say sorry to Momma cos I didn't go to bed when she told me too. I was bad Daddy and I made Momma sad and angry."

"Oh darling." Noah stood from the bed and scooped Beth into his arms, "Momma's not angry with you, she's just cranky 'cos she's tired and the babies won't lie still in her tummy."

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Noah ran his hand over Beth's curls before kissing them softly, "sure thing Bee."

He placed Beth on the bed beside Shelby and she instantly wrapped her arms around her mother, "I'm sorry Momma" Beth kissed the tears that were still damp on Shelby's cheek, "I'm sorry I didn't go to sleep when you told me too, I'm sorry Momma, I'm really really sorry."

"It's okay" Shelby kissed Beth's cheek, "I know you miss Daddy when he's working baby, I miss him too."

"I'm going to go to sleep now" Beth told Shelby, "so you don't have to cry no more."

"Oh darling" Shelby sighed, "I'm not crying because of you. I'm crying because I'm cranky and tired. I'm okay, but I think we should all go to sleep now."

Beth nodded, "Okay Momma. I love you."

Shelby smiled and kissed Beth's head, "I love you too baby." Noah cleared his throat, "and I love you Daddy" she giggled.

"I love you too Bee." Noah smiled as he flicked off the light.

"And Momma and the babies?"

"Yeah" Noah nodded, "I love Momma and the babies too. I love everyone in this bed."

"And Bruno?"

Noah nodded, "and Bruno."

"And Bubbe and Rachel and Hannah."

"Yeah."

"Momma, do you lo..."

"Beth" Shelby interrupted, "I love you,, I love daddy, I love the babies, I love Bruno, I love Bubbe and Hannah and Rachel, now can we go to sleep?"

"Yeah" Beth smiled and yawned, "I love you Mo..."

"Beth" Noah laughed as he interrupted her, "go to sleep!"


	18. Chapter 18

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** - I've got no idea where this part came from, I started writing and it just appeared. Everytime I tried to end it it just kept going!

One review for the last chapter made me realise how little Noah and Shelby have been appearing together latley, I hope this chapter makes up for that.

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><p>"Hey" Noah smiled as he walked into the house and sat beside Shelby, his hands instantly moving to rest on her stomach.<p>

"Hi" she smiled back, instantly relaxing into him. It was like their children knew they were safe with their Daddy, the second he spoke or placed his hands on her stomach the babies calmed down and the pains she had seemed less painful.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah" Shelby nodded, "I'm tired and sore but what's new?"

Noah smiled sadly, "not long left though babe, he said he'd start you off at thirty five weeks and you're almost twenty seven. You're on the final straight."

"I know" Shelby sighed, "I just want them to be here already."

"I know what you mean" Noah too was eager not only to meet his children but to see Shelby happy and not in pain any more, "I wanted to talk to you about the babies".

"Yeah?" Shelby's hand's joined Noah's on her stomach.

"I've been thinking about names" it was only once the doctor had told them that their babies had a good chance of surviving outside the womb that Noah and Shelby had allowed themselves to properly begin preparing for the new arrivals. "I know a while ago you said you liked Emily for a girl and we agreed I should probably stick to naming our pets but. . ."

"You remembered" Shelby interrupted as tears filled her eyes, "that I liked Emily and"

"Ben. Noah finished for her, of course I did and it's okay if you don't want to call her Emily, if one of them is a she obviously, but I was reading the name book you got" Noah realised that he was rambling, "and I looked up our names just out of interest, and it said Shelby was old English and meant a place where willow trees grow or something." Shelby nodded, "so if we have a girl I wondered how you'd feel about calling her Willow, or at least using it as a middle name?" Shelby couldn't help herself and burst into tears as she wrapped her arms as far as she could around Noah's waist. "Hey" he kissed her temple, "if you don't like it we don't have to use it, it was just an idea, maybe we can get another pet for me to name" he joked.

"You, you'd want to name her after me?" Shelby sobbed into his chest.

"Well" Noah grinned and kissed her again, "you are pretty awesome."

"I like it" Shelby said as she sniffed softly and wiped at her eyes, Noah had learnt over the past few months that pregnant Shelby could go from a sobbing mess to a hyperactive child in a matter of seconds, "Willow Puckerman, Emily Willow Puckerman, Beth and Willow, Willow and Beth" she tried out a combination of names, "We might even get a Willow and an Emily."

Noah smiled and nodded, "I wanted to talk about your name too" Noah told her, "I know you want the babies to have my name and you've said you want to change Beth's surname to Puckerman and I wondered if you wanted to change your name too. I don't mean marriage, I know if that happens it's not going to happen for a long time and we've said we'd have to sit down and talk to Rachel and stuff but why don't you just change your name to Puckerman, I mean you'll have done all the hard work" he stroked her stomach softly as if he was afraid of damaging their precious cargo, "but you'd be the odd one out."

"You, you want me to have your surname?"

Noah nodded and prayed Shelby wouldn't start crying again, "I love you Shelby and I want us to be a family but I understand that marriage would be a big step and it's something that wouldn't just affect us, I just think if we're going to be a family we should all have the same name, and you seemed pretty certain that you want the babies and Beth to have my surname it would seem silly for me to change my name to Noah Corcoran" he laughed slightly, "it's not a big deal if you don't want to though" he shrugged, not wanting her to feel forced into a decision.

"Noah, I, I'd love to have your name but that's still a big step, can I, can I take a couple of days to think it over?"

"You can take as long as you want Shelby, call Rachel, talk to my mom, do whatever you need to do. I'll still be here when you've made a decision, whatever that decision is okay. And it's not a one time only offer, if you don't want to change your name now but you decide you want to do it a year or two or five down the line that's fine too, it's not now or never"

"Yeah" Shelby sighed and leant more heavily into Noah, he could tell she was getting tired.

"Come on" he helped her to her feet, "let's get you into bed for a while."

"I, Beth" she protested as he lead her upstairs and laid her in the bed before beginning to rearange the mountain of cushions so she was comfortable.

"Bruno needs walking" Noah told Shelby, "I was planning on walking him up to the school to fetch her so you can sleep."

Shelby smiled sleepily, "Thank you Noah."

"It's not a problem" he smiled back at her before bending down and kissing her softly, "sleep tight."

"I love you Noah." Shelby mumbled sleepily as he moved to leave the room.

"I love you too, all three of you" he blew her a kiss before leaving the room.

"Is that them?" Beth asked as she knelt on the chair the doctor had placed by the screen. Shelby had now entered her 28th week of pregnancy and as promised Beth had been allowed to accompany her parents to the scan alongside Sarah, and so she didn't feel left out, Hannah too.

"Yep" the doctor smiled "this baby here is going to be the first one born, you can see their head and their arms and their legs right here" he pointed out the babies limbs, "and this right here is it's heartbeat" he pointed to the fluttering on the screen before moving the wand towards the other baby, "and this is the second baby right here."

"It looks like it's sucking it's thumb" Beth giggled.

"That's because it is" the doctor told her, "this baby sucks it's thumb a lot."

"They don't look like real babies" was Beth's next comment.

"They started off like little beans" the doctor explained, "but the longer they stay in your Mommy's tummy the more they change to look like babies. They're still quite small."

"Momma showed me something on the 'puper" Beth told the doctor, "it said the babies are like, what? This big Momma?" She held her hands some distance apart and Shelby nodded.

"You're almost there" the doctor told her, "but your Momma's babies are just a little bit smaller than that" he moved her hands slightly closer together, "the first one is about that long" he moved her hands closer still, "and the second one is about that long."

"Woah" Beth gasped, "they're tiny" she moved her still open hands towards Shelby's stomach, "how do they fit in there? Won't she pop if they get bigger."

The doctor smiled and shook his head, "Her tummy will stretch as the babies get bigger, and the babies will curl up so they can fit, imagine how small you can get if you curl up real tight, well the babies are doing that in Mommy's tummy so they can keep growing for a while longer but still fit in her tummy."

"Will they be born soon?"

The doctor shrugged, "I don't know Beth, the babies will be born when they're ready, or when they really run out of room to grow but we don't know when it will be. It shouldn't be too long though."

"Will they be here before the big summer holidays?"

The doctor nodded, "they'll be here well before summer, the longest they'll be is 7 weeks or 49 days."

"And will they be sick when they're born? Momma said they might be sick and have to stay in the hospital for a long time."

"I think they'll be okay, the longer they stay growing in your Mommy's tummy then the less time they'll have to stay in the hospital."

"Okay" Beth nodded and stroked the side of Shelby's stomach, a small strip of skin that wasn't covered in gel, "stay in there babies" she told the twins, "you might be a bit squished but you need to grow bigger so you're not sick and you can come home and play."

"What do you think Hannah?" Shelby reached out to take Hannah's hand in hers and squeezing it softly, "pretty awesome hey?"

Hannah nodded and was surprised to find her eyes filling with tears, "yeah, it is."

"Get used to seeing them Han" Noah told his sister, "as the official baby sitter you're going to be seeing a lot of these babies, especially when they've got dirty diapers."

Hannah laughed, "I don't think so Noah, you made them you can change them."

"Mom" Noah followed Sarah from the room after Beth had finished questioning the doctor and Shelby was left to clean the gel from her stomach, "did, I mean I know it's been a while since you, y'know, had Han, but erm, did you see anything on the scan?"

Sarah smiled, she was pretty sure she knew what Noah meant "like what?"

"Like that one of the babies might be a boy."

Sarah smiled and nodded, "yeah, I think I saw something that might suggest that, I didn't want to say anything though."

Noah nodded, "don't say anything to Shelby, I don't think she saw it, she was talking to Beth."

Sarah smiled again, "my lips are sealed" she told him, kissing him on the cheek before calling Beth and Hannah over and telling Noah they'd wait in the cafeteria.

"I like Leah" Noah told Shelby later that night, "but I don't think Leah Willow Puckerman sounds right, and then I feel like a girl for thinking about names that sound 'right' together. I wanted to name Beth after some Whiskey!"

Shelby laughed, "I still like Emily, I quite like Evie too."

Noah nodded, "I'd still like to use Willow as a middle name or something."

Shelby nodded, "We'll work something out, I mean we might decide on names right now that we both love and then set eyes on the babies and want to name them something completely different. I remember when I was pregnant with Rachel, Leroy wanted to call her Maisy but Hiram had his heart set on Kate, obviously I don't know the fine details but I do know that she is neither a Maisy or a Kate."

"I guess we should have a rough idea though, like names we definitely don't want to use, like I want to veto Sebastian right now."

Shelby frowned and pouted "But..."

"As much as I love you" Noah interrupted, "calling any kid Sebastian Puckerman a, is just asking for him to be bullied and b, means he's going to hate us when he has to learn to write his name."

"I like Oliver" Shelby admitted defeat over Sebastian.

"Oliver I can live with" Noah smiled, "write it down."

"The more I look at them, the more I fall in love with old fashioned names" Shelby confessed.

"Like what? I don't really want a baby called Ethel like Lily Allen."

Shelby laughed, "I mean like William and Henry for boys and I like Nora and Edie for girls."

"If we have a boy we should call him Thomas" Noah announced as he flicked through the name book, "it means twin." He flicked through the name book for a moment before closing it and looking at Shelby, "Right at the beginning" he spoke, "you had a dream, that we'd had a girl and called her Annie".

Shelby nodded, "My Nana was called Anne, it's my middle name and she always used to joke that if I really loved her I'd call my first daughter Anne too."

Noah smiled, "I quite like Annabel" he told Shelby, "we could call her Annie for short."

"Does, does Annabel mean something nice?" she asked as she stroked her stomach, "I loved my Nana but I don't want my baby to have a name that means something awful!"

Noah smiled and flicked through the book, "it's Latin, it means easy to love. And Annie is apparently Hebrew for Grace so that would keep Ma happy."

"What do you think of Ned?" Shelby asked as she ran her hands over her stomach, now she'd started thinking, she couldn't stop names popping into her head.

"Ned Puckerman" Noah smiled, "sounds pretty bad ass to me!"

Shelby nodded and smiled, "if we only have one girl we'll use Willow as her middle name but if we have two we can use it for the second one" she smiled.

"It says here that Anne and Hannah come from the same name" Noah smiled, "but Ma might get jealous" he laughed.

"How about" Shelby came up with an idea, "you choose the first name for the first baby and the middle name for our second. I'll choose a middle name for the first baby and the first name for the second."

Noah nodded, "but we still can veto each other's choices?"

Shelby nodded, "and just as a heads up, you're not naming either of these children after an alcoholic beverage, or a non alcoholic beverage for that matter. Or any food item, in fact anything I could buy from Walmart is a no no."

"Aww" Noah protested, "I thought Reeses Pieces Puckerman was an awesome name."

"Yeah?" Shelby raised an eyebrow even though she knew he was joking, "well you thought wrong."

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><p><strong>AN2 - **I think I've chosen names for the twins already, but if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them!


	19. Chapter 19

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** - How lucky are you guys, this part just took over and ended up at almost 8000 words, so I've split it up and instead of making you wait a week, you're getting the first half today and the second half will be up either tomorrow or Sunday.

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><p><em>"Someday, some boy will come and ask me for your hand but I won't say yes to him unless I know he's the half that makes you whole, he has a poet's soul, and the heart of a man's man. I know he'll say that he's in love but between you and me, he won't be good enough. You're beautiful baby from the outside in. Chase your dreams but always know the road that'll lead you home again, go on, take on this whole world but to me, you know you'll always be my little girl." <em>Shelby stood in the doorway watching as Noah laid on Beth's bed stroking the sleeping girl's cheek as he sang quietly.

"Hey" Shelby smiled as she walked into the room, cradling her bump, "is everything okay?"

Noah nodded and stood from the bed, kissing Beth's forehead before stepping back and allowing Shelby to step forward and kiss Beth too, "I just wondered why you were laying with her?" Shelby asked as she pulled the covers over Beth and kissed her again, "she only usually wants one of us to stay with her if something's wrong."

Noah shrugged as he flicked on the night light and pulled the door closed, "I read her a story and then she asked if I'd stay til she fell asleep and if I'd sing her something so I did."

Shelby sighed, "I hope she's okay" Noah lead Shelby down the hall and into the master bedroom, "I'm really worried about her feeling pushed out by the babies. I've noticed she's getting a little bit clingy, she was following me around when I was doing chores yesterday." It was only then that she realised Noah had been slowly undressing her, "what are you doing?"

Noah smiled, "you're stressing out" he kissed her forehead, "it's not good for you and it's not good for the babies so I am going to run you a nice warm bubble bath, you'll relax for a while and then I'll give you a foot massage while we watch some sappy romantic comedy. I'm sure Beth is just making the most of the time she has with us as an only child but right now you need to forget about anything that isn't relaxing. If Beth is worried about something there's nothing we can do til she wakes up so let's chill out tonight and sort things out tomorrow."

As much as Shelby hated to admit it Noah was right, she felt so much better as Noah helped her from their shared bath and dried her off before wrapping the towel around her hair and a dressing gown around her body. A mountain of pillows now lived on their bed as Shelby could only sleep if almost every part of her aching body was supported, and Noah moved the pillows to support her as she sat at the head of the bed. Noah left Shelby for a moment as he ran downstairs picking up a couple of dvds and making a large mug of hot chocolate to help Shelby relax as wine was off the menu. Noah put the dvd on as he returned to the bedroom and as promised gave Shelby a much needed foot massage. He usually teased her about the noises she made as he massaged her swollen ankles but tonight she was silent, he glanced up the bed and smiled softly, Shelby was already asleep. He watched her sleep for a while before sighing, as much as she needed her rest he knew if he let her sleep much longer in the position she was in she'd wake up in agony in a few hours time. "Shel" he kissed her cheek, "Shel babe" he shook her shoulders gently as she began to stir.

"Mmm, what?" she batted his hands away sleepily

"You need to get changed and lie down properly, I know you're tired but in a little while you won't be comfortable and you'll wake up anyway." He pulled some of Shelby's pyjamas from the drawer and threw them onto the bed before turning and helping her to her feet, "come on" he kissed her softly, "if you get ready quickly I might let you snuggle with me."

"Who says I want to snuggle with you Puckerman" Shelby shot back "you woke me up so I'm tired and cranky and I'm fat and uncomfortable and it's all your fault."

"But you love me right?" Noah pouted as he pulled back the sheets so Shelby could climb into bed.

"Yeah" The scowl on Shelby's face was replaced with a sleepy smile, "I do."

Shelby sighed and rubbed her stomach as she waited for Beth to come out of school the next afternoon, the twins were relentless in their assault on Shelby's internal organs, and as much as she loved the babies and wanted them to stay inside her for as long as possible, she did wish they'd give her ribs, her kidneys and her bladder a rest for just five minutes, "come on Bee" she mumbled to herself, "I need to pee." She sighed in relief as she saw Beth walk out of the doors but her relief was short lived when she noticed the tears rolling down her daughter's face, "Bee darling, what's wrong?" She crouched down and wrapped her arms around her daughter as she looked for the teacher, there had been occasions where Beth had fallen over or not felt well and her teacher had walked out with her to tell Shelby what was wrong.

"Some, some girls said that Daddy wasn't my daddy and he was only the babies daddy and Mrs Stewart wouldn't listen when I said he was my daddy because he is Mommy he's my daddy too isn't he?"

"Oh Bee" Shelby felt her own eyes fill with tears as she saw her daughter so upset, "you know he's your daddy baby."

"And Erin said I was lying about seeing the babies in your tummy but I'm not Momma, I'm not lying."

"I know baby I know." She held Beth tightly for a moment, "did you tell Mrs Stewart what Erin said." Beth nodded into Shelby's shoulder, "and what did she say?"

"She told me to stop telling tales and sit down."

Shelby wanted to punch the woman, "come on" she wiped at Beth's tears and stood up, holding her hand out to Beth, "I want to speak to Mrs Stewart before we go home."

"Mrs Corcoran, how can I help you?" Beth's teacher's tone was sickly sweet as Shelby entered the room with Beth in tow, Shelby noted that the principal was also in the room and assumed this was why the woman was being so nice.

"It's Miss Corcoran" Shelby corrected, "and I want to talk to you about why my daughter just came out of school in tears because someone told her her father wasn't her father." Shelby's tone of voice told the teacher she wasn't to be messed with.

"Hey Beth" The principal approached the young girl, "why don't you go and read some books or draw a picture in the story corner while your Mommy talks to me and Mrs Stewart."

"Momma?" Beth looked up at Shelby and Shelby nodded.

"Go on Baby, I'll be right here" she gestured to where she stood, "I won't go anywhere without you."

Beth nodded and walked over to the carpeted area in the far corner of the room before flopping onto one of the large beanbags and picking up a picture book. Once they were sure they were settled the principal turned to Shelby, "Miss Corcoran" she gestured to the teacher's desk, "take a seat."

Shelby shook her head, "I'm more comfortable standing thanks" she turned her attention to Mrs Stewart, "Now would you care to explain why you're letting Beth's class mates get away with telling her that her father isn't her father?"

"We've been talking about different types of families" the teacher tried to explain, "we're trying to get the children to understand that not everyone lives with their Mommy and Daddy."

"But Beth does." Shelby interrupted.

"And if she wants to think of your partner as her father, if he loves her like a daughter then that's great, if"

"Wait" Shelby interrupted, "Beth thinks of my partner as her father because he is her father, and he loves her like a daughter because she is his daughter, Noah is Beth's father and even if she wasn't it is not your place to tell her that. If a family wants to bring a child up believing that a step parent is their real parent then that is for that individual family to decide and it is not your place to tell that child otherwise."

"I thought with the age gap..." The teacher stuttered.

"You said you've been trying to teach them about different types of families. Not all couples are the same age, and if you want to get technical, Noah is Beth's father both legally and biologically but I am only her mother in the eyes of the law. I may not have given birth to her but she has been in my custody, she has been my daughter since she was three hours old, I am her mother and I won't let anyone tell me, or Beth any differently. Noah and I are having enough trouble trying to convince her that we'll still love her when the twins are born without her teacher of all people adding to her doubt, I thought the school was meant to work with the parents to do what's best for the child. Noah and I spend hours showering her with love and affection, we have to reassure her almost every night that we're not going to stop loving her once the babies get here and she comes to school to be told Noah isn't her father, and have her teacher ignore her when she tries to correct her, Beth doesn't need that stress and neither do I. I used to be a teacher and I know that if you want any facts about a student or their family it's probably best to listen to the actual student."

"Miss Corcoran" The principal spoke for the first time. "I want to give you my sincerest apologies for what has happened, you are correct, we should be doing everything we can to work with parents and not against them. Whether you or your partner are Beth's biological parents or not is not any of our business. As long as we don't suspect neglect or abuse, we shouldn't need to know whether a child lives with foster parents, grand parents, step parents or whoever. Yes we're trying to teach the children that not everyone lives in a stereotypical family and that it's okay if your family is different." She scowled at Beth's teacher, "but we do not do that by making an example out of a particular child, especially when the information you've been given is from another child." She turned her attention back to Shelby, "I'll be looking into this matter further, but in the mean time is there anything else I can do to make things easier for you and Beth. Do you think moving her to the other class of her peers would help?"

Shelby nodded, "I think it might but I'd want to check Beth was okay with that." She finally sat in the chair she'd been offered at the beginning of the meeting.

"Okay" the principal called Beth over, "lets ask what she thinks."

"Bee" Shelby smiled and wiped at the tear tracks that had dried on Beth's face as she stood in front of her mother, "do you think you'd stop being sad if you moved to a different class?"

"Which class?" Beth asked.

Shelby turned to the principal, "You'd be moved into Miss Carter's class Beth."

Beth nodded, "My friend Molly is in her class, we play together sometimes after lunch."

"Okay" the principal smiled, "I think Miss Carter is still around so how about we go see if we can find her so Mommy can say hello and we can let her know you'll be joining her class tomorrow."

Shelby, Beth and the principal found the young teacher in her class room, tidying up from the afternoon's art lesson, "Hey Beth" she greeted the young girl with a smile when she saw her, "is everything okay?" She turned her attention to Shelby and the principal.

"Beth will be joining your class in the morning." The principal told her, "I'll talk to you about it before you leave if you have the time, but I thought I'd bring Beth and her Mom to say hi."

"It's nice to meet you Miss Corcoran" Beth's new teacher held out her hand for Shelby to shake, "Jess Carter" she introduced herself and for some reason Shelby found herself reminded of Miss Honey from Matilda and she knew Beth would be much happier in this class.

Shelby and the principal stood talking for a while while Miss Carter spoke with Beth, together the two made a name sticker for Beth's drawer and Miss Carter showed Beth where she's be sitting, "we've been talking about families" she told Beth, "just like you have in Mrs Stewart's class, do you think you could do something for me?" Beth nodded silently, "everyone in the class has drawn a picture of their family to put on this wall right here" she gestured to the wall covered in pictures, "do you think you could draw me a picture of your family?"

Beth nodded, "can I draw the babies in Momma's tummy?"

"Sure."

"And Bruno my dog?"

"Yep" Miss Carter pointed to the wall, "Jimmy drew his pet rabbit and Tara drew her fish" she pointed to the pictures on the wall, "and Sam's aunt lives on a farm so he's drawn some chickens, a cow and a pig."

"What about My Bubbe and Hannah and my big sister Rachel?"

Miss Carter smiled, "you can draw everyone you think is part of your family, I don't think anyone else in the class has a Bubbe."

"She's my Daddy's Momma." Beth said quietly, some of the children in the other class had laughed when she'd spoken of her 'Bubbe', and the teacher had corrected her and told her she meant her grandmother."

"My Bubbe is my Mom's Mom" Miss Carter told Beth, "My dad's mom is my Nanna."

Beth was amazed, "you have a Bubbe too?"

"I sure do, I don't get to see her much because she lives a long way away but she's still my Bubbe."

Beth smiled, "My Bubbe lives right round the corner from me, she picks me up some days if my Momma needs to nap and my daddy's at work, he's a palamedic."

"Wow, you're a lucky girl Beth."

"Beth" Shelby called softly, "are you ready to go home?"

Beth nodded, "I'll see you tomorrow" she smiled at Miss Carter, "and I promise I'll try my bestest at drawing."

Beth fell asleep on the drive back from school and Shelby shook her shoulders gently once they were home, "Bee darling, we're home."

"Momma" Beth mumbled sleepily.

"I know darling, I know you're tired but I can't carry you, you just need to walk into the house then you can lay down on the sofa and nap until dinner is ready." Beth nodded and walked sleepily into the house before slipping off her shoes, curling up on the sofa and falling asleep almost instantly.

"Hey" Noah walked from the kitchen just as Shelby was tucking a blanket over Beth, "you're late home, is everything okay?"

Shelby shook her head and ran a hand through her hair as she sat at the end of the sofa, "not really, Beth, she's had some problems at school." Shelby shook her head, "I can't, I'm exhausted Noah, I can't talk about it right now, it's all sorted now and later I will tell you everything, but right now, my back aches, I'm having Braxton Hicks again and I am this close to wetting myself" she held up her thumb a few millimetres away from her index finger, "but I'm so tired I don't think I have the energy to walk to the bathroom Noah. I'm so tired Noah, and my baby girl, my baby girl's been hiding the fact that she was having trouble at school. How can I expect her to tell me if she feels pushed out by the twins if she can't tell me that some girls are teasing her at school." She leant over and stroked Beth's cheek, "I love her so much Noah, it, it breaks my heart to know she's not happy."

"Oh Shelby" Noah sighed before he moved to the sofa and even though she was heavily pregnant with twins he still managed to lift her into his arms bridal style.

"What are you doing?" Shelby gasped, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

"I can't stop your Braxton Hicks and I can't stop you worrying about Beth but I can stop you peeing yourself." He carried her into the downstairs bathroom before putting her down, "call me when you've done and I'll carry you back to the sofa" he said with a wink and a smile as he left the bathroom. Shelby insisted she was fine to walk back to the sofa but was surprised when Noah sat down in the armchair once they were back in the living room and pulled her to sit in his lap, "Babe, I know you're worried about a lot of things but worrying won't help anything okay, Beth is a strong girl, and I'm sure you've done all you can to help her out. You were there for her today Shelby and no one can ask any more of you. Beth loves you and everyone knows that you love her Shelby, I don't know what I can say to make you realise that this isn't your fault but stuff like this happens and kids get bullied and teased. I know it would be better for everyone if stuff like this didn't happen but it does, and you stopped it as soon as you found out about it. I don't know what I'm trying to say apart from you're a great Mom Shelby and I couldn't wish for anyone better to raise my children with me." He kissed her temple softly, "whatever's happened Shelby, please don't blame yourself."

"Some girl told the whole class you weren't Beth's father, she tried to tell the teacher that you were her father but she didn't listen. Apparently they've been talking about different types of families, the teacher tried to convince Beth you were only her step father. And the teacher thought she was 'telling stories' when she told the class about her big sister that was an actress in New York."

"She said what?" Noah was fuming, he understood now why Shelby was so upset, "I'm taking her to school tomorrow, I'll call work and tell them I've got some family stuff to take care of."

"No Noah, please don't go in there guns blazing." She linked her fingers with his before moving their entwined hands to rest on her stomach, hoping the movement of their children would calm him down, "I've spoken to the principal, Beth's moving into the other class tomorrow morning, we met the teacher earlier, she seems really nice, and the principal is going to look into what's been going on and she'll invite us both in to speak to her once she's spoken to the teacher and she knows what went on."

Noah sighed, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay" Shelby relaxed into his embrace for a while before sitting up and gasping as her hands moved to clutch at her stomach.

"Babe?" Noah was worried, "are you okay" he asked as Bruno shot up from where he was laying by the kitchen door and walked over to sit beside Noah."

Noah still wasn't convinced, "are you sure you don't want me to call the doctor?"

Shelby shook her head, she'd already been to see her doctor three times with what she thought were contractions only to be told they were Braxton Hicks and whilst they might be annoying or uncomfortable, they were nothing to worry about, "I'm okay Noah, really. I guess they're just preparing me for all the trouble they'll get into when they're finally here."

Bruno began to whine and nuzzle against Noah and Shelby, "Hey" Noah scratched between his ears, "she's okay boy, she's okay."

Bruno whined again, "he's right" Shelby told Bruno, reaching out to pat his head, "but thanks for caring" she smiled, "you'll have two more little people to watch over soon boy, is that it?" Shelby began to play with Bruno's ears, "you're not bothered about me? You're just making sure these babies are okay?" She saw Noah giving her a funny look, "what? The guy understands me, we talk all the time when you're at work and Beth's at school, he keeps me sane and he gives good cuddles when I'm having a bad day."

Noah said nothing but he sighed and dropped his head to rest on Shelby's shoulder, he could see in her eyes that she was exhausted and he hated seeing her uncomfortable and in pain. As much as he wanted Shelby to stay pregnant as long as possible to give their children the best start in life, he half wished they'd hurry up and be born just to give Shelby the break she so desperately needed. "I love you" he finally broke the silence.

Shelby smiled as she did every time she heard those three words, "I love you too."

Shelby took Beth to school the next morning and only as she waddled back to her car did Shelby realise that it was the first time in weeks that Beth had gone into the classroom without any arguments, Shelby had simply kissed Beth, told her she loved her and that Noah would be the one picking her up after school. Beth had nodded, returned Shelby's kiss and her declaration of love before taking her book bag from Shelby, shouting a quick, 'see you later' over her shoulder before running into the classroom hand in hand with a girl Shelby could only assume was the same 'Molly' Beth had spent all of the previous night talking about.

"Hey beautiful." Noah smiled as he walked in after his shift to find Shelby laid out on the sofa, "I've got something for you."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm" Noah nodded, "Wait here and I'll go get it from my truck."

"What on earth is that?" Shelby asked as Noah came back into the house with his hands full.

"A Moses basket, well two Moses baskets, and four stands, two for upstairs two for downstairs. I know you wanted them in with us for a while." Shelby nodded, there's been tears when she'd realised there was no way that both babies' cribs would fit in Shelby and Noah's bedroom and Shelby had even suggested sleeping on the nursery floor to be closer to her children. "Well these should solve our problem, they're smaller than the cribs so we'll have no problem fitting them in our room, and with stands upstairs and downstairs we can carry them down in their baskets in a morning when we come down and then take the baskets back up at night. It'll save your back bending to put them in the pack and play."

"Noah" Shelby sighed, "that, that's a great idea, thank you thank you so much."

"There's something else" Noah smiled as he opened the front door and nodded his head.

"Rachel" Noah had never seen a woman so pregnant move so fast, "what are you doing here?" She wrapped her arms tightly around her eldest daughter.

"I called you last night" Rachel told her, "Noah answered and said you were sleeping but he said you and Beth had both had a hard couple of weeks so I thought maybe a visit from your favourite soon-to-be-the-lead-on-Broadway diva might cheer you both up."

"Oh Rachel", even though there were tears rolling down Shelby's face she had a huge smile on her face as she held onto Rachel. "Wait" Shelby let go of Rachel and took a step backwards, "soon to be the... you mean... you got it?"

Rachel nodded and Shelby grabbed her again, "I got it, they called yesterday morning. That's why I rang you last night."

"Oh my God Rachel, I can't, congratulations, I mean I knew you'd be able to do it, but to find out you actually did, I, Oh Rachel I'm so proud, I know I don't deserve to be but I am Rachel I'm so so proud of you."

"Hey" Rachel wiped at Shelby's tears, "you're my Mom, of course you're allowed to be proud of me."

"Congrats Rach" Noah placed his hand between Rachel's shoulder blades, "We all knew you'd do it" he kissed her cheek before gesturing to the Moses baskets, "I'm going to put these upstairs then I'm going to leave you lovely ladies to talk show tunes while I go and see what Lima has to offer in the way of non-alcoholic champagne. We need to celebrate one of my top five Jew babes getting a Broadway lead."

"Top five?" Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, my Ma and my sister are Jewish, Shelby's part Jewish and then there's Bee. You're up there with the best Berry, don't be a diva about it." He kissed her cheek again before kissing Shelby's head, "love you."

Shelby smiled, "I love you too." She quickly turned her attention back to Rachel, "so when do you start rehearsals?"

Beth felt her eyes fill with tears as she stood in the doorway of the school that afternoon, Momma had promised her that Daddy would be there to pick her up but he wasn't there. He always stood in the same spot, just to the left of the doorway so he could scoop her into a big hug as she came out of the door. Beth was so worked up about not being able to see Noah that she didn't notice a familiar brunette making her way through the crowd of parents towards the door. "Beth" Rachel called softly as she approached the door.

Beth gasped, "Rachel" she began to grin the same way Shelby had when she'd seen Rachel earlier that morning, she dropped her book bag and sprinted the short distance to her older sister and Rachel crouched down anticipating the force of the hug Beth threw at her, "I've missed you Rachel. I was sad because Momma said Daddy would be here and I couldn't see him but then you were here and now I'm super happy."

Rachel smiled and ran her hand over Beth's hair, it was still light but it had darkened considerably since she was born, "I've missed you too" Rachel told Beth, "I called Momma last night but she was asleep so I talked to daddy for a while." Rachel didn't let Beth out of her embrace and Beth was happy not to let go, "Daddy said you'd had a rough couple of days" Beth nodded and buried her head in Rachel's shoulder as her eyes filled with tears, "so I thought I'd come down and see if I could cheer you up, so stop with these tears" Rachel wiped at Beth's cheeks, "I saw Momma earlier and she said it would be okay if we went for ice cream on the way home as long as we took some back for her and the babies."

Beth's face lit up, "Can I get Chocolate and mamila?"

Rachel nodded, "Chocolate and Vanilla? I think we can manage that, now go grab your book bag and we can go get ice cream."

"Will you come and say hello to my teacher? It's my first day in her class." Rachel nodded and allowed Beth to lead her over to where Miss Carter stood holding Beth's book bag. "This is my big sister Rachel" Beth said as she took her book bag from the teacher, "daddy told her I was sad so she came all the way from New York to take me for ice cream."

"Wow" Miss Carter smiled, she was shocked at the resemblance between Rachel and Shelby, the two could easily be mistaken for sisters if you didn't know that they were actually mother and daughter, "aren't you lucky to have such a great big sister?"

Beth nodded, "when the babies come I want to be a good big sister like Rachel is to me."

Rachel squeezed Beth's hand, Shelby had told Rachel on several occasions how much Beth looked up to her but this was the first time Rachel had experienced it for herself, "I'm sure you will be" Miss Carter said with a smile before ruffling Beth's hair, "now you go and get the biggest Ice Cream you can eat and I'll see you tomorrow." She held out her hand towards Rachel, "It's a pleasure to meet you Rachel."

Rachel shook the offered hand, "And you too."


	20. Chapter 20

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** - And because I've got a busy weekend, here is the second part of this weekend's chapter!

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><p>"Just how much ice cream did you have?" Shelby asked Beth as she ran into the house, completely high on sugar, "Well I had chocolate and mamilla and then I had a chocolate milkshake and the ice cream with the oreos in and then some more mamilla but it had gummy worms and strawberry sauce on, but then I felt a bit sick so Rachel said no more, but I don't feel sick now Momma" Beth grinned as she bounced on the sofa.<p>

"I should think you did feel sick" Shelby frowned, "I hope Rachel's going to be here to clean up when you're throwing up later, or to sit with you when you can't sleep."

"Rachey" Beth's eyes were wide with excitement, "are you sleeping here tonight? Will you sleep in with me?"

"I was going to sleep at my Dad's, they're away at the moment."

"Pleeeeeease" Beth fluttered her eyelashes before turning to Shelby, "Momma, can Rachel sleep here tonight, please Momma, I'll go to bed at the right time I promise."

Shelby sighed, "did you bring any ice cream home for Me?"

"Mhm" Beth bounced over to take the insulated bag from Rachel, "we got Lemon sorbet for you and Strawberry ice cream for one baby and mint choc chip for the other baby, and we got daddy a chocolate fudge milkshake cos Rachel said they're his favourite, where is he Momma?"

"Daddy's just popped over to help Bubbe with something. I'll put his milkshake in the fridge though with my ice cream so we can have them later."

"So can Rachel sleep here?"

Shelby kissed her daughter's excited face, "it's up to Rachel baby" she made eye contact with Rachel, "Rachel knows she's always welcome to sleep over here when she comes to visit."

"Rachel" Beth bounded back over to her sister, "please, please will you stay over here, and can you take me to school in the morning? Please? Pretty pretty please?"

Rachel couldn't say no to Beth, "if it's okay with Momma then yes I will stay over and take you to school."

Beth nodded, "It's okay, she said so, she said you can always sleep here."

"It's me" Noah called as he waked back into the house with Bruno by his side, "Han and my Ma wanted to come over and say Hi to Rach." He said as Hannah and Sarah followed him into the house, "you don't mind do you?"

"Daddy" Beth screeched as she charged across the living room.

"And just how much ice cream did Rachel get you eh?" Noah asked as he lifted her onto his hip.

"Trust me" Shelby sighed, "you don't want to know the answer to that, but it's okay cos Rachel's going to stay here tonight to scrape up the remains when Beth crashes."

"What do you think you're having?" Hannah asked a while later as they all sat together in the living room.

"I don't know" Shelby ran her hands over her stomach, "I haven't really thought about it. I think at least one of them is a girl" she sighed, "I'd like them both to be boys though. When I was younger I always imagined I'd have two boys and two girls and I've already got my girls." She glanced over to where Beth was snuggled on Rachel's lap, slowly coming down from her sugar high, sometimes she still struggled to believe that she had Rachel in her life "so yeah, boys would be nice. I don't mind though, and I'm not just saying it, as long as they're both okay, I'll be happy."

"I want them to be girls Momma." Beth looked over at Shelby, "boys are yucky."

"I want them both to be girls too" Noah told Beth, "so I can have two more little princesses, I've got a feeling they're both boys though."

Rachel nodded, "I think you're having two boys too."

Beth shook her head, "if they are boys can you leave them at the hospital Momma?"

"I'm afraid not" Shelby smiled, "we'll be bringing them home whatever they are."

"For what it's worth" Sarah added in her opinion, "I think they're both girls. I've heard a lot of old wives tales and they all point to you carrying girls."

"Oh God" Shelby groaned at the mention of old wives tales, "it's not the one about 'if you're carrying high or low' is it? Because I'm carrying these babies and I can tell you without any exaggeration that my bump starts under my chin and ends above my ankles. How can you decide whether that's high or low?"

Sarah laughed, "I'm just saying that my money is on them both being girls."

"Well I think you're having one of each" Hannah told them, "just to break the trend."

"If there is one boy and one girl" Beth spoke sleepily from Rachel's lap, her eyes now closed as she fought to stay awake, "does that mean you'll only have to leave one baby at the hospital."

"Beth" Noah laughed, "sorry to disappoint you princess but we'll be bringing two babies home no matter whether they're boys or girls, and right now I think it's someone's bed time."

Beth didn't open her eyes, "it's not mine."

"I think it is sweetheart" Shelby agreed with Noah.

"Nuh huh" Beth shook her head, "I think it isn't."

"Come on Bee" Rachel stood up with Beth in her arms, "you promised Momma that if I stayed over you'd go to bed at the right time, now say goodnight and I'll take you upstairs and read you a story."

Beth was passed around the room giving kisses and cuddles to everyone as she said good night, "Momma?" She mumbled sleepily as she came to sit on the arm of the chair Shelby was sat in, "after Rachel reads me a story, will you come and tuck me in?"

Shelby nodded and kissed Beth's forehead, "of course I will baby."

Shelby had just stopped to catch her breath at the top of the stairs when Rachel crept out of Beth's room, "she's out like a light" Rachel told her mother, "she started snoring almost as soon as she laid down." She looked at Shelby, "are you okay?" She reached out and laid her hand on Shelby's arm.

"Yeah" Shelby nodded, "I've got two babies squashing my internal organs, the stairs aren't as easy as they used to be."

Rachel smiled sympathetically, "you do look really uncomfortable. but I imagine all this will be worth it once they're born."

Shelby nodded, "I'm sure it will be." They stood in silence on the landing for a moment before Shelby spoke again, "I, I need to tuck Beth in, she'll know if I didn't, but after, can we talk? There erm, there's something I want to show you."

"Sure" Rachel smiled, stepping back to allow Shelby into Beth's room, "I'll wait here for you."

"Come with me" Shelby told Rachel once she'd tucked Beth in. She lead Rachel into the master bedroom and gestured for her to sit on the edge of the bed, "I erm, I've thought about showing you this for a while. Noah saw it the other day and well, I want you to see it too."

Shelby walked into the walk in wardrobe and returned a few moments later with a large wooden box in her hands, "What is it?" Rachel asked as Shelby put the book on the bed and sat beside her.

"It, it's a scrap book, I've been putting it together since you were born."

Rachel opened the box and lifted out the scrap book. "What's this?" she asked, taking out the pink blanket that was hidden beneath the scrap book.

"It's your blanket." Shelby told her, "the one you were wrapped in when you were first born. your fathers had their own blanket that they wanted you to go home in, and there was a nurse who obviously felt sorry for me, she gave me a few things" Shelby explained, "that was one of them, everything else is in there" she gestured at the scrap book.

Rachel nodded and opened the scrap book as Shelby shifted on the bed and laid the pink blanket over her bump and began smoothing out the creases. The first page of the scrap book was full of pictures of Shelby's bump, each with the date they were taken written neatly underneath.

The next double page was dedicated to the day Rachel was born. Shelby had written the time her contractions started and the time Rachel was born. There were polaroid pictures of her alongside ink prints of her hands and feet and a paper envelope housed a tiny pink hat the same shade as the blanket Shelby currently had over her stomach, "I don't understand" Rachel whispered, "I've seen this, my dad's have it." She ran her fingers lightly over the tiny hospital bracelet, 'Baby Girl Berry was written above her date and time of birth in black ink, the words 'Rachel Barbara' had been added at a later date in blue ink, and the bottom line of the bracelet read 7lb3oz, 18.5 inches'.

"It was hospital policy" Shelby explained, "you had one on each ankle, like I said the nurse felt sorry for me and I guess your fathers were so excited to take you home they didn't realise you only had one on when you left the hospital."

Rachel nodded and carried on flicking through the scrap book, page after page of newspaper articles, pictures cut from the local paper after she'd won dance recitals, singing contests, there was even a picture of 6 year old Rachel, minus one of her front teeth, smiling at the camera as she held up a swimming medal. "What's this?" Rachel was almost up to the present day, and had come across a cd simply labelled 'Rachel'.

"I, I downloaded the audio from your myspace videos" Shelby blushed, "there are dvds of New Directions' performances too. I'm your very own stalker."

Rachel laughed and placed the book back in the box, "you're my mom, if anyone is allowed to be my crazy stalker then it's you, and if it makes you feel a little better, my dads have done exactly the same thing."

Shelby smiled, "I'm going to get you to sign a copy of your debut album for the box, then when you're world famous I'm going to sell it on ebay to fund my retirement and send all three of your siblings to college."

Rachel returned the smile, "in that case I'm going to make sure you never get your hands on a signed cd of mine." She laughed slightly before reaching out and placing her hand over Shelby's, "and you know, whether I get to be a multimillionaire or I end up teaching in some Lima dance school I'll make sure you and the kids are okay, financially and otherwise, you're my family, I'm not going to watch as you end up in some grotty old nursing home while Beth and the twins wait tables in breadsticks."

"Rachel, I" Shelby felt her eyes fill with tears.

"Hey" Rachel sighed, "don't worry about it, you're my mom, it's your job to be my number one supporter and my biggest fan, and it's my job to look after you in your old age" she smiled, "and before you say it, I've told you a million times, we can't change what's happened in the past, we can only decide what we do in the future. You're my mom and I love you Shelby. I love my fathers and I am so grateful for everything they did for me as a child and all the things they continue to do for me now, but in the short time since we've built our relationship you've managed to give me the two things I always wanted that my fathers were never able to provide."

"What, what are they?" Shelby was sure Rachel had never wanted for anything, and she couldn't think of something that she'd given Rachel that her fathers wouldn't have been able to give her.

"You gave me a mother, a female role model, because as loving as my fathers are, there are some conversations a teenage girl really should have had with her mother, and now I have that, I don't think I'd ever have had the courage to take that pregnancy test on my own and my I don't think my father's would have been quite as understanding as you. And you gave me siblings, I always wanted to be an older sister but my fathers said they didn't want anything to distract their love and attention from me, but you've given me Beth and you've given me..." her hand hovered above Shelby's stomach, "these two little ones."

Shelby smiled as tears ran freely down her cheek, "you can touch them you know" she linked her fingers with Rachel's and laid their hands on her bump, "I'm glad we make you happy."

"You do" Rachel smiled, "and as weird as it is that my ex boyfriend is the father of my two little brothers, I'm glad the two of you are happy, it gives me hope that I might one day find my own 'Noah'"

"You'll find him" Shelby smiled knowingly, "it took me long enough to find Noah, but don't give up hope. And you really think they're both boys?"

"Yeah" Rachel nodded, "and I am a little bit psychic. Have you thought of names yet?"

Shelby nodded, "I think we have, we've got two girls names picked out and one boys name but we're struggling to decide between two boys names for the second baby."

"And are we going to get any hints as to what the future members of our family are going to be called?"

Shelby shook her head, "you'll find out when they make they're here."

"I'm glad" Rachel spoke quietly, "that everything's going to be okay."

"We, we don't know that yet." Shelby's voice shook as she began to stroke her stomach, "they're still, it might still go wrong."

Rachel shook her head, "don't say that, you need to think positively, they've got a great chance of survival now, they might need to stay in hospital for a little while but they'll make it, I, I've been researching, I was worried too, but each week, each day they're in there they get a little bit stronger. You've met Beth and I, we're both stubborn, so you think these babies" she laid her hand on Shelby's stomach, "aren't going to be fighters" sorry to tell you this Mom, but these babies are going to be badass little divas, you'll have your hands full from day one."

Shelby burst into tears at Rachel's last statement, "I'm so glad you're here Rachel, I can never ever thank you enough for giving me another chance, I didn't, I don't deserve you. You're so amazing Rachel, and I really am so proud of you, I don't feel like I have the right to be proud but I am Rachel. I am so proud and I love you so much."

"I love you too" Rachel held Shelby tightly as the elder woman sobbed and she didn't know what to do or say to calm her down so she did the only thing she ever did, she began to sing. _"In your daughter's eyes you are a hero, you are strong and wise and you know no fear. But the truth is plain to see, you were sent to rescue me, I see who I want to be, in my mother's eyes"_ Shelby recognised the song and only began to sob harder as she heard Rachel change the lyrics slightly as she sang. _"In your daughter's eyes everyone is equal, darkness turns to light, and the world is at peace. This mother that God gave to me, gives me strength when I am weak. I find reason to believe, in my mother's eyes." _Rachel heard Shelby sigh and her mother's grip loosened somewhat and Rachel knew Shelby was slowly drifting off to sleep, exhausted not only physically from carrying the babies but emotionally from the tears she'd cried and the overwhelming love she felt for her children. "_And when she wraps her arm around my shoulder, oh it puts a smile in my heart, everything becomes a little clearer, I realise what life is all about. It's hanging on when your heart has had enough,it's giving more when you feel like giving up. I've seen the light, it's in my mother's eyes. In my mother's eyes, I can see the future, a reflection of who I am and who l will be."_

Rachel ended the song there as she couldn't think of a way to change the final few lyrics to fit their situation. She gently laid Shelby back against the pillows and kissed her head softly before covering her with the bed sheet and folding up the baby blanket and placing it in the box with the scrapbook. She placed the lid on the box and then put the box safely on the chest of drawers by the bed, "Night Mom" she whispered as she moved some of Shelby's hair back from her face, "I love you."

"Is everything okay?" Noah asked as Rachel walked back down the stairs without Shelby.

"Yeah, Shelby fell asleep." Rachel always felt odd calling Shelby 'mom' when she was talking to Noah, "we talked for a while and she, erm, she sort of cried herself to sleep, she's completely out of it but she's still half sitting up so I don't know how comfortable she is." Rachel glanced around, "have Hannah and your Mom gone?"

"Yeah" Noah nodded, "I kinda guessed Shelby would want to sleep after talking to you, I half expected there to be tears too."

Rachel sighed, "I'm going to go and fetch my overnight bag from the car, would you mind if I showered before I went to bed?"

"Yes Berry I would mind, it's 9pm have some respect" Noah said sternly before laughing, "of course not, make yourself at home, I'm going to go and wake Shelby so she can change and get comfortable but then I'll probably stick a movie on down here or something if you want to join me or something after your shower?"

Rachel smiled as she reached the door, "that would be lovely Noah, thank you."

"No problem" he grinned as he turned to walk up the stairs, "but we're not watching a musical, I can't deny Shelby musicals, but you're not having my babies so I can happily say no to you" he laughed, "we'll be watching something badass."

Rachel laughed, "I wouldn't expect anything less from you Noah."

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><p>So I think the babies are going to make an arrival soon, but I keep changing my mind over what sex the twins are, and like Shelby and Noah I'm stuck between 2 boys names for baby two, so I'm going to ask which you prefer, Nate or Ned?<p> 


	21. Chapter 21

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** - I've got quite a few chapters of this already written (it all seemed to come out of nowhere over the past few days) so I'm going to try and update twice a week for a while, but if I feel like I'm running out of stuff that's already written I'll go back to my weekend-ly updates, but for now. Enjoy!

This is just a short one but I think (hope!) you'll understand why I ended where I did.

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><p>Shelby had just entered the 32nd week of her pregnancy when she was hit with a sudden burst of energy, she'd find herself up at dawn taking Bruno for a long walk before Beth and Noah woke up, she walked to the store almost every day and she walked too and from school twice a day. Sitting still had been uncomfortable for a while, just because her uterus was so large and Shelby wasn't sure where to put it as she sat, but now sitting still was almost impossible, Shelby was buzzing and she was determined to use her energy to do something useful.<p>

Noah came home to find Shelby sat on the kitchen floor, Bruno laid by her side, surrounded by tins of food and the work surfaces covered in pots and pans. "Shelby" Noah raised an eyebrow, "what are you doing?"

Shelby shook her head and sighed as if Noah had asked her a stupid question, "I'm organising the cupboards" she told him, "so all the like items are together and all the labels are facing forwards".

"Right...and can I ask why or would that be a stupid question?"

"It'll make it easier for us to find the things we need."

"Okay..." Noah began to step slowly backwards out of the kitchen, pulling his phone from his pocket as he did. "Mom" he dialled Sarah once he'd left the twilight zone, "I think Shelby's gone crazy."

"And what makes you think that?" Sarah asked, thinking Noah was playing a joke on her.

"I got home and she's rearranging the kitchen cupboards so all the labels face forward and she's washed dishes I didn't even know we owned" he pushed open the door to the downstairs bathroom to grab some tissue, "oh and the downstairs bathroom is cleaner than it was three years ago when it was brand new."

Sarah laughed, "she's nesting Noah".

Noah frowned, she's doing what?"

"Nesting."

"Should I be worried?" Noah asked his Mom, I mean am I going to go upstairs and find she's swapped our bed for a pile of twigs?"

Sarah chuckled, "no but she's probably changed the sheets and washed a lot of your clothes and everything you've got for the babies."

"Should I be worried?"

Sarah smiled at her son's concern. "Not at all, it's completely natural, I did it when I was expecting you and Hannah, Shelby probably did it when she was pregnant with Rachel, it's her hormones telling her to make sure everything's prepared for the new arrivals. When I was pregnant with you I repainted your room at least 8 times, with Han I was obsessively packing and repacking my hospital bag, just leave her too it, unless she gets the urge to do anything too strenuous like moving furniture, then you should step in and do it for her."

"Is she going to be like this until they're born?"

"I don't know" Sarah said truthfully, "there got to a point in both my pregnancies where I was so fat and exhausted that I couldn't be bothered any more but all women are different. As long as she's not doing too much just leave her to it, or offer to help if you're worried."

"Yeah" Noah smiled, I will."

"Okay" Sarah smiled, "I have to go get ready for work. Be safe Noah and look after Shelby and my grandbabies."

"I always do Ma, I always do" he said as he hung up the phone.

Noah had just hung up the phone when Shelby called him to help her up from the floor, "I want to go shopping" she told him decisivley, "I want to get a present for Beth from the babies, are you coming?" She didn't wait for his answer, "We'll take your truck, I'll drive."

Noah groaned, Shelby was hot. Pregnant Shelby was really hot. Shelby driving his truck was really hot. Pregnant Shelby driving his truck was really really, must think of the mailman hot. He hoped she wouldn't use her up all of her newly acquired energy on shopping, he had much more exciting things in mind.

Another week passed and Shelby groaned slightly as she stood from the bed, it was a little after 5am and she knew she was in labour, she'd been having Braxton hicks contractions on and off for the past few months but she knew this was different, she knew this was the real thing. She thought she'd be terrified when she went into labour but she was strangely calm, it was just five days before the doctor had planned to induce her labour so she wasn't too worried about the health of her children.

She stood for a moment watching Noah sleep before walking silently down the hall and checking on Beth, she couldn't help but smile as she saw her daughter in an almost identical position to her father, sprawled out across the bed, her head tipped back as she snored quietly. She stepped back into the hall as she felt her stomach tighten slightly, "I know" she whispered placing her hands on her stomach as she felt one of the babies move, "I'm excited too. I can't wait to meet you both" she told her stomach as she moved to the bathroom and began filling the large bath with warm water before leaving the room to check she had everything she needed packed in her hospital bag. She groaned in relief as she sank into the warm water a few minutes later, although the contractions had now taken on a regular pattern they were still weak and far apart and she knew it was best to let Noah get as much sleep as he could now.

It was almost hour later when she pulled herself from the cool water and dried herself on the largest towel they owned, there was no doubt that she was now bigger than she had ever been with Rachel but due to Noah's almost constant reading of baby books and online forums she hadn't gained a single stretch mark. He'd taken time each morning and evening to carefully rub cream into her stomach, even though he'd promised her time and time again that he'd still love her if she was covered in a million stretch marks.

Shelby glanced at the clock after she dressed herself in loose sweats and a tshirt of Noah's, it was almost 7am so she took her phone from beside her bed and slowly made her way downstairs, "Rachel" she called one of the few people she knew would be awake so early, "no, don't worry nothing's wrong I just thought I'd call you and let you know I'm having contractions." Shelby spoke to Rachel for almost half an hour, reassuring her daughter that she was fine and she'd wake Noah up if her contractions got any worse.

She let Bruno out before spending the next hour mindlessly flipping through tv channels only stopping occasionally to talk to her babies or the dog that knew something wasn't quite right and had curled up by her feet. She heard the creak of Beth's door just after 8.30 and met her daughter at the bottom of the stairs, "Mommy" she smiled sleepily as she wrapped her arms as far round Shelby as she could, "why are you awake? I'm always awake first."

Shelby nodded, it was true. At the weekends Beth was always awake first, the almost six year old knew she was allowed to watch cartoons with the volume down low and get herself a bowl of cereal. Several times Shelby and Noah had found her sleeping in a ball with Bruno on the floor when they came downstairs. "The babies woke me up" Shelby said truthfully.

Beth kissed Shelby's bump twice, "you hasta let Mommy sleep" she told the babies, "or she'll get real grumpy and not be fun."

"Hey Cheeky" Shelby batted Beth away from her stomach and cradled her bump protectively, "don't listen to her, I'm always fun."

"Mommy" Beth said slowly as she sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast with Shelby, "do you think I'll be a good big sister?"

"The best." Shelby didn't even need to think about the answer.

"And are the babies going to be here real soon?"

Shelby nodded and rubbed at her stomach, the contractions seemed to have died down slightly, "I think they will Baby."

Beth shook her head, "I'm not the baby no more Mommy, I'm nearly a grown up."

"Not quite" Shelby laughed, "and you'll always be my baby, you'll always be daddy's baby girl too."

"And you're still going to love me when you have the babies right."

Shelby nodded, "we'll love you just the same as we love you now, and we'll love the babies just the same as we love you. The only difference will be that the babies love you too."

Beth looked thoughtful for a minute, "My friend Lily says babies get smelly. I don't think I'll love the baby if it smells bad."

Shelby laughed, "When the baby smells bad someone will change its diaper and then it won't smell any more."

"Then I'll love it again." Beth said simply before putting her bowl in the sink and skipping through to the living room to watch cartoons with Bruno.

"Noah" Shelby was surprised at how calm she was as she shook him gently a little before 10am, "Noah, I think I'm in labour."

Noah flew from the bed, "what, what time is it, are you okay? I'll call my mom and get the bag, stay calm Shelby don't panic."

Shelby sat on the edge of the bed and laughed as Noah ran around the room madly. "Noah" She smiled, "calm down, I'm okay, I've called your Mom, Han's going to come and watch Beth and Sarah's gonna come with us to the hospital. I've called Rachel and although she didn't say as much I'm pretty sure she's on her way down from New York as we speak. I've put the bag by the door and you've probably got time to shower and have breakfast if you want before we leave. My contractions are still quite far apart and my waters haven't gone yet, they could be a while."

Noah stopped pacing the room a look of pure panic on his face, "you're in labour Shelby."

"I know" she smiled again, "we could be parents to three children tomorrow."

"Shouldn't you be freaking out?"

Shelby laughed, "I think you're freaking out enough for us both Noah." She reached her arms out and he helped her to her feet before hugging her tightly, "there's nothing to worry about Noah now go shower. I'll make you something to eat and I'll call you if we need to speed things up a bit okay. I'd rather spend time here than in the hospital anyway."

Noah nodded, "have you eaten? And have you called the doctor?"

Shelby nodded, "I had breakfast with Bee when she woke up and I'll call the doctor while you're in the shower. Don't worry Noah I've got it all under control."


	22. Chapter 22

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** - I feel like I should provide some sort of cliffhanger warning. Please don't kill me!

* * *

><p>"I called the doctor" Shelby told Noah as he came into the kitchen, "he said unless I feel like I need to go in he's happy for me to stay home until my contractions get to five minutes apart or my waters break."<p>

"Have you said anything to Beth?"

Shelby shook her head, "Hannah's taken Bruno for a walk and Beth's gone with them, "she asked earlier if the babies would be here soon and I said they probably would be."

Noah nodded, "how are you feeling?" he asked as he watched her slowly pace the length of the kitchen.

"I'm okay" Shelby smiled and ran her left hand over her stomach, "I'm excited about meeting these guys, a little apprehensive that something's going to go wrong though."

Noah nodded again, "The doctor's not worried though right, and he said he'd be happy to start you off at 35 weeks, you've made it to thirty four."

"Yeah" Shelby smiled, "I guess I just need them to be here in my arms before I stop worrying."

"But physically, I mean, you're doing okay?" he asked as she rocked in his arms.

"I'm okay" Shelby took a deep breath, "they're not too bad at the moment, I just need to keep moving. I remember when I had Rachel they died down after a while so I don't want to go rushing off to the hospital for them to stop as soon as we get there."

Noah nodded, "Okay, just let me know when we need to go okay."

Shelby nodded, "of course I will."

It was a little after three pm when Shelby finally decided she was ready to go to the hospital, she'd spent a while stood in the kitchen holding onto Sarah's shoulders rocking backwards and forwards, grunting and groaning whilst Noah rubbed at her back. Hannah had been great at entertaining Beth. "Baby" Noah called her over before they left, "come give Momma a kiss and a cuddle, me and Bubbe are going to take her to the hospital, it's time for the babies to be born."

Beth's eye's filled with tears, "don't leave me on my own Daddy."

"Hey" he wrapped his arms around her, "I'd never leave you on your own baby girl, Hannah's going to stay with you and I think Rachel's on her way from New York too okay. You won't be on your own Beth." Beth nodded into his shoulder and he kissed her hair, "I love you baby girl."

"I love you too Daddy."

"Glad to hear it" Noah smiled, "can you come and give Momma some love?"

Beth nodded, "you promise you'll still want me when the babies come?"

"Beth" Noah sat her on the sideboard once they reached the kitchen, "I will always want you. There's going to be a day when you're all big and grown up and you want to live somewhere else, on your own or with some friends or your boyfriend or whatever, you'll want to move out but I'll still want you to stay here, you'll want to go to college and go to parties and have sleepovers but I'll still want you to cuddle up with me and let me rock you to sleep. Nothing will ever make me stop loving you."

"Daddy's right Bee" Shelby took a deep breath and rubbed her stomach as she felt it tightening, she didn't want to scare Beth, "we could have two babies or we could have two hundred babies, we will always love you. You will always be special to us, you're our first baby and you're the baby that bought us together. If it wasn't for you, Daddy and I wouldn't have spent so much time together, we'd never have realised that we wanted to be together or how much we loved one another. Bee, if it wasn't for you darling I wouldn't even be having these babies. Everything that's happening right now, all these amazing things are happening because of you. We won't ever stop loving you Beth." She pulled Beth into an awkward hug. "I love you so much darling and I don't ever want you to feel like I don't okay, but right now I need to go and have these babies."

"You'll be okay right?" Nina said that her granma went to the hospital and she got sick and had to go to heaven and Nina never saw her again, you wont go to heaven will you Momma?"

"Oh darling" Shelby wished so much she could do something, anything to put Beth's mind at rest, "I'm not going to go to heaven, Nina's granma was probably very sick. I'm not sick, I'm just going to have the babies."

"Will the babies be sick and go to heaven?"

"I think they'll be okay. How about I get Daddy or Bubbe to ring you as soon as the babies are born so we can tell you everything's okay?"

"Why can't you ring me?"

"I'll be real tired Bee, I'll get Daddy or Bubbe to call you as soon as the babies are born and then I'll call you after I've had a little nap."

Beth nodded, "okay."

"Don't be scared if we don't ring you soon okay, sometimes it takes a long time for babies to be born but that doesn't mean anything is wrong. We might not call you until tomorrow but we will call you, you'll be the first person to know that they're here."

"Okay" Beth nodded, slightly reassured that everything would be all right, "go have those babies Momma" Beth said with cheeky smile, "I love you."

Shelby smiled and kissed Beth's head, "I love you baby, and I promise, I'll see you real soon."

"So" the doctor smiled as he held open the door to the room Shelby was being admitted to, allowing Shelby, Noah and Sarah to enter before he did, "today's the big day then?"

"I guess so" Shelby nodded, rubbing her stomach and once again beginning to pace.

"And how do you feel? What sort of pain level are you at at the moment?"

"I'm okay. I'd say I'm maybe at a six, sometimes a seven out of ten, they seem to hurt more when I'm still though" she explained why she'd not stopped pacing since they'd entered the room.

The doctor nodded and jotted something down on Shelby's notes, "okay, if pacing helps then you keep pacing, you don't want any pain relief right?"

Shelby shook her head, "I'd like to maybe use gas and air but I don't want to be offered anything else."

"Okay" the doctor wrote on the notes again, "and you only want the necessary people in as you deliver?" Shelby nodded, "okay. We'll need a team of pediatricians just in case but I'm happy to have them wait outside until we know for sure if we need them or not." Shelby nodded, "I know you said you're more comfortable when you're upright but I need a nurse to come in and check your blood pressure and what not, are you okay to get that over and done with now? She'll be as quick as she can and then you can move about as much as you like until it's time for you to deliver if everything continues like this" he reached out to tap the wooden table over the bed.

Shelby nodded, "Okay" she told him, "I'll get it over and done with now. Will I need a, an exam?"

The doctor smiled and shook his head, "I don't think so, unless you want one to find out how dilated you are but I've seen a lot of labours and deliveries, I'd put money on you being at least five, maybe even six centimetres, it might have been a while since you last gave birth but when you're fully dilated and ready to push you'll know it without me putting my hand up there to tell you. And I doubt there's anything to worry about but we just like to check your vitals to be sure. If you get bored of pacing the room feel free to take a walk through the hospital or the grounds this isn't a prison cell and some women swear that walking up and down stairs helps speed things up a little." He smiled at Shelby, "I've got a couple of other patients I need to check on so I'll leave you in the capable hands of the nurses, someone will be along to check you over in a moment and if you need anything the buzzer is the red button right by the bed."

"You'll come back though wont you?" Shelby asked, "it'll be you that delivers my babies?"

"Of course I will. Even if I have to stay here all night I'll be here to meet those little miracles, don't you worry about that." He smiled at Shelby again, "if you have any more questions or worries ask the nurse to page me, and hopefully it won't be long before we're meeting the little ones."

Once she was settled in her room Shelby's contractions suddenly hit her like a steam train as they became stronger and closer together, she moaned as another contraction spread through her body, "fuuuck" she groaned, "I hate you" she spat at Noah, "I hate you and I never want you near me again."

"Shelby" Sarah spoke softly, "breathe through it, you're okay."

"Take some deep breaths" Noah added as he began to rub Shelby's back, "remember what they taught us at the classes, don't hold your breath."

"It hurts" Shelby sobbed, "it hurts so much."

"I know baby" Noah sighed, and you know if I could stop it hurting then I would but you're doing so well baby, so much better than I could do."

Shelby groaned again, leaning into Sarah and rocking on her heels as she had yet another contraction and Noah sighed, Shelby had already been in labour much longer than Quinn had and Noah wasn't sure how much longer the poor woman could last. Quinn had simply sat on the bed and almost wordlessly bought Beth into the world with just a couple of screams but Shelby, Shelby had hardly stayed in one position for more than 10 minutes. Noah was exhausted too but he had to keep going, as tired and confused as he was he needed to pull himself together for Shelby. "Oh my God" Shelby gasped, "why do people do this. Why hasn't technology advanced enough for us to repopulate without all this." She shot Noah a 'coach Corcoran' glare, "why has nobody found a way for you to do this instead?"

Noah sighed but said nothing, "here babe" he ran a wash cloth under the cold tap of the sink in the corner of the room before wiping the sweat from Shelby's face and neck, "can I get you anything else? Water?"

Shelby nodded through gritted teeth, "please" she mumbled, "I, I'm sort of, sort, of hungry." She panted, "but, but I'm not."

Noah held out the glass of water so Shelby could sip slowly from the straw,"the nurse bought some grapes in earlier" Noah suggested, "would you like me to feed you some?" Shelby nodded against Sarah's shoulder and Noah began to slowly feed her grapes.

"Oh god" she groaned and Noah and Sarah were quick to step back as Shelby's waters finally broke, "I don't, I can't."

"Shelby" Noah spoke softly, kissing her head and retying her pony tail before he continued, "I know you wanted to do this naturally, but no one minds if you need something to help take the edge off the pain, I know if I was you I'd be off my face on pain killers by now. You're doing an amazing job babe, but I don't want you to feel like you're failing or letting me or the babies or anyone down if you take something for the pain okay."

Shelby nodded, "get, get the doctor. I, I want to know how far along I am. If, if I'm nearly there I'll, I'll go without."

Sarah smiled, "I'll go get him" she helped Shelby move into Noah's arms before leaving the room.

"Shelby wants to know how far along she is" Sarah told the doctor after a nurse had paged him to the ward. The nurse had told Sarah she could see to Shelby's needs but Sarah no longer trusted that particular nurse, she'd almost reduced Shelby to tears when she'd come on shift several hours ago, insisting that it was hospital protocol for Shelby to lie on the bed to be examined and monitored. Luckily Sarah and Noah had fought Shelby's corner and insisted on speaking to the doctor who agreed that Shelby should continue as she was as there didn't seem to be any problems, Noah and Sarah had both been rather pleased when Shelby had later thrown up all over the same nurse when she'd bought a bowl of ice chips into the room.

"Can I ask why?" The doctor asked, "she was pretty certain earlier."

"She's getting tired" Sarah sighed, "she's not even used the gas and air yet, Noah's just told her that no one will judge her or think she's failed if she lets you give her something to help. She said if she's looking like she's got a while left she'll have something, if she's almost there she'll go without."

The doctor studied Sarah for a while, "what aren't you telling me Sarah?"

"I've not said anything just in case I'm wrong but all my instincts as a nurse and a mother are telling me that if she's not there already she will be very very soon."

"What, in your opinion would you call soon?"

"I'd say half an hour tops, probably a lot less than that, she seems to be drawing back into 'that' head space and she's doing that funny grunt that you only hear from women that are about to become mothers, I don't know exactly what it is but something is telling me we're going to be meeting those babies very soon."

The doctor nodded, "I'll come and see how she's doing."

Shelby's mood had changed drastically once Sarah was out of the room, "I'm tired" she'd told Noah, "I want to lay down."

Sarah and the doctor had entered the room to find Noah sat against the head of the bed, his legs hung off either side of the bed and Shelby was laid on her side between his legs, her head on his left thigh, "she's shaking" Noah said worriedly. It was true, Shelby was trembling slightly on the bed, "and she said she was tired and wanted to lie down, she made me lie with her."

"She's starting to push." Sarah smiled knowingly.

"How, how can you tell?" Noah asked as he ran his fingers through Shelby's hair, she'd suddenly become silent apart from the odd grunt or groan, and she'd withdrawn almost completely. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't completely worried about her.

"Can you see her feet?" Sarah asked.

Noah shifted slightly before he nodded, "yeah."

"Watch."

Noah watched Shelby's feet, "what am I..."

"There" Sarah pointed as Shelby's toes curled slightly, "I think you're going to be a daddy soon Nono."

The doctor spent a while trying to talk to Shelby but not getting very far before agreeing with Sarah, he excused himself to call the team of pediatricians that would be waiting in case they were needed. The next time he entered the room Shelby was knelt up and leaning against the back of the bed, "she wants to push" Noah told him.

"Okay" he smiled as he pulled on some gloves, "let's get this show on the road."

It was a little over half an hour later when their first twin made an appearance. The baby laid silently on the bed between Shelby's legs as the doctor sucked gunk from it's nose and mouth. the room was silent and Noah and Sarah both held their breath until Noah saw the baby kick it's left leg, screw up it's face and finally take the breath they were all waiting for. Noah held his hands together in prayer and mumbled something in Hebrew as he looked up at the ceiling.

"It's okay Noah" Sarah put her arm around her son, "it's okay."

Noah cut the cord and the baby was wrapped in a mint green blanket before being placed in Noah's arms and he walked round the bed towards Shelby, "what, what is it?" she asked.

"It's a baby Shelby" Noah smiled with tears in his eyes, "it's our beautiful baby."

"I think she means is it a boy or a girl" Sarah told him

"Oh" Noah had been so focused on the child being okay he hadn't paid any attention to what was or wasn't between it's legs. He peeled back the blanket slightly, "it's a boy Shel, you got your son."

The doctor allowed Shelby and Noah to bond with their son for a while before calling a pediatrician into the room to check the baby and announcing it was time for meet the second baby. It was just 17 minutes later that the second twin was born and both Noah and Sarah knew without the doctor saying a word that something was wrong. The umbilical cord was wrapped twice around the baby's neck and their skin was far greyer than their older brother's, "I don't want you to panic" the doctor said the 6 words that caused everyone in the room to panic, "but can someone press the red button by the bed."


	23. Chapter 23

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** - Part of me thought about making you wait til the weekend for an update, but the sun is shining (which is aa rare rare thing where I live) and I'm in a good mood! Enjoy :D

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><p>Sarah pressed the button and within seconds the lifeless baby had been taken into the corner of the room where the paediatricians huddled around the baby talking in hushed tones. This time it was Sarah who began to pray as Noah tried desperately to keep his own emotions in check so he could comfort Shelby. A tense few moments passed before there was the tiniest whimper from the corner of the room and everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. The doctor walked over to the babies and spoke with a paediatrician for a while before walking back over to where Shelby was now laying on the bed with a tiny bundle in his arms, "here you go" he placed the baby in Shelby's waiting arms, "once you've all said hello and, if you'd like to try a feed, they want to take the little ones down to the NICU just as a precaution."<p>

"But they're okay." Noah asked.

"They're both as well as can be expected, like I said it's just a precaution, and it's killing me not being able to call this one a he or she so can you have a look and put me out of my misery please" he smiled trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Go on then" Noah encouraged Shelby, "take a look."

"It's a girl" Shelby began to sob, "I got my boy and you got your girl Noah."

"We sure did" he leant over and kissed Shelby's forehead before his son was placed in his own arms, "I'm so proud of you babe, you did so well. I love you, I love you all so much." he turned to Sarah, "here Ma" he held out his son, "say hello to your newest grandbabies."

Sarah shook her head, "no, you hold him Noah, he needs to get to know his parents."

Noah smiled and laid the baby boy in Sarah's arms, "a couple of minutes won't hurt, he needs to get to know his Bubbe too."

"Have they got names?" The doctor asked the question Sarah was dying to know the answer to."

"Go on" Noah nodded at Shelby, "tell them."

Shelby smiled, "this" she rocked the baby slightly, "is Annie, Annabel Willow Puckerman, and that one Sarah, is Nate, Nathaniel Benjamin Puckerman."

"God's gift" Sarah smiled, recognising the Hebrew name instantly.

"Yeah" Noah nodded, "we kinda decided on it when we only thought there was one in there, after all Shelby's problems we thought it was an ideal name for our miracle baby."

"And Annie's sort of named after my Nana Anne" Shelby explained, but Annabel is Latin for easy to love and Annie is Hebrew for Grace" Shelby remembered Noah looking up the names for her.

"And her middle name is Willow because Shelby is old English for a place where Willow trees grow, and Shelby's always liked Ben which is why it's the little guy's middle name."

"Beth, Annie and Nate" Sarah smiled as she gazed at Nate, "I'm the luckiest Bubbe ever."

"Who'd have thought" Noah asked as he stroked Annie's head lightly, "that the boy who wanted to call his first child Jack Daniels, would end up with three children called Elizabeth, Nathaniel and Annabel, I feel like a grown up" he grinned before leaning down to kiss Shelby softly and Sarah felt a tear fall from her eye as she saw the love in her son's eyes.

"Here" Sarah offered Nate back to Noah, "you should be the ones getting to know them not me."

Noah shook his head, "you're okay Ma, unless you want to swap" he looked to Shelby and she nodded.

"Here" Noah took Annie carefully from Shelby's arms, "come say Shalom to your Bubbe pretty girl" he looked at Sarah, "pass Nate over to Shelby" Sarah did as she was told and Noah laid Annie in her grandmother's arms.

"Oh Noah" Sarah gasped, "she's so tiny, so tiny but so so beautiful, I'm so happy for the two of you, so so happy."

Shelby, Sarah and Noah spent almost an hour bonding with the new arrivals before Annie and Nate were taken to the neo-natal intensive care unit to be checked over and Shelby was cleaned up and moved from the delivery suite to a side room on a ward.

There was a tap on the door a while later and Shelby's doctor walked into the room, "I've just been down to see the twins, they're doing well, we're giving Annie oxygen but that's all, she's breathing on her own, we're not helping her with that and she seems to be keeping her temperature up pretty well on her own too. We'll keep an eye on her in the NICU overnight but if she's okay tomorrow we should be able to move her into the nursery or in here with you whichever you want. A nurse will be bringing Nate back up in a few minutes, obviously we can't tell if they'll have any problems in the future but right now I couldn't ask for them to be doing any better."

"You mean that?" Shelby asked, "They're okay?"

"Yeah" the doctor nodded, "I'd tell you if I was worried, we'll keep you all in for a couple of days and make sure they're feeding well and doing what they should be doing in their diapers to make sure everything is okay with their digestive systems but I can't see you being in here past the end of the week. If Annie is okay without the oxygen tomorrow, you should be home for the weekend."

"You did good Shel." Noah smiled from his seat by the bed.

"You did" the doctor agreed, "I'll be honest I expected you to make it to about 28 weeks, maybe 30 but you made it to almost 35, I'd be happy with 35 weeks in a normal twin pregnancy without all the complications you had. If I'm being picky I'd have liked them both, Annie especially, to have been a little bit heavier but that's not a huge problem, I've seen preemies going home weighing just over 4lb, as long as they're healthy and they meet the minimum weight for their car seat I will have no problems with you taking them home."

Noah left Shelby with his mother once the doctor had left and he made his way down the corridor to call Rachel from the payphone,

"Hey" Noah grinned dopily into the phone, he was exhausted but he felt so high he thought he'd be awake for weeks, "I know it's getting late but I thought I'd let you know they're here. They're here and they're tiny but they're okay."

Rachel's squeal almost deafened him, "Congratulations Noah, and they're both okay, and Shelby too, she's okay?"

"Yeah she's good, she's exhausted but she's okay. The second baby is the smallest, she's in the NICU and they're giving her oxygen and they want to keep an eye on her overnight but she's doing well. the doctor said they'll probably be in all week but should be home by the weekend."

"She, you've had a girl?"

"Yeah" Noah ran a hand over his head, he couldn't believe he'd missed out that important piece of information, "a boy and a girl, Nathaniel and Annabel, Annie and Nate. Nate's the oldest, he's 5 pounds 1 ounce and Annie, she's tiny, 4 pounds and 4 ounces. They're so beautiful Rachel, I, I just want to hold them forever, your mom did a great job, I'm so proud of her. She was so strong. I sat earlier just watching her hold them, she wasn't doing anything but hold them. It feels like everything finally fell into place today." There was silence for a moment, "I, I think I might want to ask her to marry me one day Rach, not today, but one day. Would you be okay with that?"

Rachel smiled, "I know how happy you make her Noah, and I know it might seem strange to some people but I fully support your relationship, and if you and my mother want to get married I will give you my blessing, but there are two conditions."

Noah swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, "go on."

"Number one, I get to sing a song of my choosing at your wedding."

"Like you even have to ask."

"Two, I don't have to call you dad or refer to you as my step-father."

Noah laughed, "Of course not, that'd freak me out too. You can call me Noah and tell people I'm your Mom's partner."

"In that case yes, I would be happy for you to ask her to marry you. But please don't wait too long to ask her, I don't know if I'll be able to keep the secret for too long."

Noah laughed again, "I'll tell my Ma, then the two of you can gossip about it with each other but for now I'm going to get back to my babies, could you maybe bring Bee in tomorrow after lunch, say around 3?"

"Try and stop me" Rachel smiled, "I'm so happy for you both."

"Thanks" Noah smiled tiredly, "hows Beth, is she okay?"

"Yeah she's fine, I put her to bed about an hour ago. Don't worry about her Noah. You go give those babies a cuddle from me and Beth and tell Shelby I sent her my love and congratulations."

"Sure thing Berry. G'Night."

"Good night, oh and Noah."

"Yeah?"

"Mazal Tov."

Rachel smiled to herself as she leant back into the pillows on Shelby's guest bed. She felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, Shelby was okay and there was nothing was seriously wrong with the twins, she could finally breathe again. "Who were you talking to?" Beth asked as she stumbled sleepily into the room.

Rachel patted the bed beside her, "that was daddy on the phone, bad news Bee, you've got a brother."

Even in the darkness Rachel saw her sister's face light up, "Momma had the babies?"

"Yeah" Rachel smiled, "you've got a brother and a sister, Annie and Nate." Rachel answered Beth's next question before she was able to ask it, "they're all okay, the babies are both small and the doctors are helping Annie with her breathing just a little bit but she's okay. She just has to get used to breathing on her own because she didn't have to breathe when she was inside Mommy, so don't worry about it okay." Beth nodded, "Daddy said we can go and see them tomorrow afternoon. They'll probably be in hospital all week, but we can go and visit them every day and they should be home by next weekend."

"If they're not sick, why do they have to stay in the hospital?"

Rachel sighed, "they aren't sick but they were born a little bit early so the doctor just wants to watch them for a little while to make sure they're okay and there really is nothing wrong okay?"

Beth nodded, "but they're not sick? You promise they're not sick?"

"Yeah. I promise the babies aren't sick. They're small but they're okay."

"And Momma's okay?"

"Momma's very tired but she'll be okay when she's had some sleep. Something that you too need to get missy, you don't want to be too tired to give your new brother and sister cuddles tomorrow."

"Can I sleep with you?"

Rachel nodded, "okay."

"And when we see the babies will you teach me how to be a good big sister because you're really good at being a big sister and I'm only good at being a little sister."

Rachel smiled, "right now all you need to do is love them. Give them kisses and cuddles and help Momma and Daddy out if they need you too okay. Now close your eyes and get some sleep. We'll go and buy the babies a present in the morning."

"Can we get a present for Momma and Daddy too."

"Of course we can, and I know your excited but you're tired and I'm tired too and we're going to have a long and exciting day tomorrow so we both need some rest, so come on, let's go to sleep."


	24. Chapter 24

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah) & Bruno the dog.

**A/N** - Another long part :) Enjoy!

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><p>Sarah left after Noah returned to the room, and Noah was surprised to find there was now a plastic crib at the bottom of the bed and Shelby was cradling a sleeping Nate in her arms, "hey" he kissed her softly after they'd both said their goodbyes to his mother, "I'm so proud of you Shel, you were amazing earlier."<p>

Shelby smiled without taking her eyes off Nate, "thank you" she whispered, "thank you for him and for Annie."

Noah sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped his arm around Shelby's shoulders, "I should be thanking you, you did all the hard work not me." Shelby smiled and yawned, "here" he lifted Nate from her arms, "get some sleep you must be exhausted, this little guy isn't going anywhere." He laid Nate in the crib, making sure his feet were against the bottom, before pulling the blanket over his tiny body and tucking him in loosely so he could wriggle out if he got too hot. "Sweet dreams" Noah whispered as he leant over and kissed Nate's head before turning back to Shelby, "do you want me to tuck you in too?" he joked.

Shelby shook her head, "will you just lie with me?"

"Sure" he slipped off his shoes and his jeans and laid beside Shelby, "go to sleep babe" he kissed her temple and slung his arm around her waist, "they'll still be here when you wake up."

Noah fell asleep almost instantly but Shelby just couldn't drop off, she laid beside Noah for a while listening to him snore before climbing easily from his embrace. She slid her feet into the slippers that Sarah had left by the bed and put Noah's zip up hoodie on over the vest top of her pyjamas. She smiled as she saw Noah sprawl out further into the space she'd just made before kissing Nate. "I love you" she told him, "you won't ever understand just how much I love you and your sisters." She kissed him again before straightening up and leaving the room. She walked silently down the empty corridor until she reached the neonatal intensive care unit where a nurse allowed her into the room. "I'm..."

"Annie's Mommy" the nurse remembered Shelby from earlier, "she's right over here." She lead Shelby to an incubator on the far side of the room, "don't be scared by the amount of wires, the only one that's doing anything to help her is the one under her nose giving her oxygen, the other's are just making sure she's okay, this one right here is a heart monitor and this one is keeping an eye on the amount of oxygen in her blood, we're slowly decreasing the amount of oxygen we're giving her and this tells us whether she's coped okay with the decrease which so far she has." The nurse opened up the incubator, "do you want to hold her?"

"Doesn't she need to be in there?"

The nurse shook her head, "it's just a precaution, sometimes preemies and low birth weight babies have trouble keeping their temperature steady. The paediatrician put her in there so that if she did struggle we could easily give her a little help but so far she's been doing okay on her own." The nurse looked at Shelby for a moment, "I hope you don't mind me asking but are you wearing anything under that jacket."

Shelby nodded, "a vest top."

"How about you slip that off, we can take off little Annie's sleep suit and she can lay on your bare chest, skin to skin contact's great for all babies, especially those that are a little under the weather."

"Sure" Shelby nodded, "what, what do I do?"

The nurse smiled, "get comfortable in the chair and I'll sort this little lady out" she gestured to Annie, "if you want to take your vest top off but leave the jacket on we can tuck her under it and keep her warm."

"There we are" the nurse smiled once Annie was settled against Shelby's chest. She'd began to cry as her sleepsuit was removed and the cool air hit her skin but she quietened almost as soon as Shelby took her in her arms, "she'll be getting ready for a feed soon" the nurse told Shelby, "so if she gets fussy that'll probably be what she's after. Call me over if you need any help" she said with a smile, "I'll be right over there if you need me" she pointed to a desk in the corner, "and you're welcome to stay as long as you like."

Shelby thanked the nurse and smiled as she held Annie against her chest. She loved Noah and Sarah and she was so grateful for everything they'd done for her but right now her 'Momma Bear' instincts were kicking in and all she wanted to do was snuggle up on her with her babies so she could get to know them. Part of her thought she should already know them, they had lived inside her for the past thirty four weeks but she wanted to be able to hold them, to memorise the way they felt in her arms, she wanted to watch their tiny eyelids flutter as they dreamt, she wanted time alone to see what she'd done, to see the miracles her body had made, growing two babies had been so much hard work she wanted a moment to herself to see where all her effort and energy has gone. "Hey Beautiful" Shelby finally whispered, "I can't believe we did it, I can't believe you're finally here and you're okay" Shelby wiped a stray tear from her cheek, "you, you, your brother and your sisters are all my dreams come true. I love you all so much. I hope I don't let you down baby, I hope I never hurt you Nate or Beth the way I hurt Rachel."

She sat with Annie for almost an hour and she'd just fed the tiny girl when the nurse buzzed someone else into the room. Shelby looked up to find Noah walking towards her with Nate cradled in his arms. "Hey" he smiled as he took the seat beside her, "I woke up and you weren't there."

"I had to see her" Shelby told him, "it sounds silly but I felt bad that we were all together in our room and she was in here on her own so I came to sit with her. The nurse says she's doing well."

Noah smiled sleepily, "she's our daughter, what do you expect." Noah laid Nate in the open incubator so he could wrap his arm around Shelby, "aren't you tired?"

She nodded, "I feel tired but I'm not sleepy" Noah nodded, he understood, he was sleepy but he knew he wouldn't sleep, not yet anyway. He only hoped that both he and Shelby would be able to nap for a while before Rachel bought Beth in that afternoon. Shelby looked up at Noah as he gazed at Annie, "would you like to hold her?"

"I'm okay" he smiled, "I'll hold her later."

"Are you sure?" Shelby asked, "I know you only had a few minutes with her earlier."

Noah nodded, "there'll be plenty of time for me to hold her later and anyway, she looks all cosy in there, I wouldn't want to disturb her."

Shelby smiled, "she's going to have to come out soon, I think her diaper's wet."

Noah smiled, "I'll go fetch the diapers and the wipes" he kissed Shelby's temple again, "am I okay to leave the little guy here?"

Shelby nodded, "we'll be fine." She shifted Annie slightly once Noah had gone so she could hold her with one arm, she reached the other arm out to rest on Nate's chest, her hand rising and falling with every breath he took. "I'll tell you both a secret" she spoke quietly to her children, "I don't think I'm ever going to stop thinking this is all a dream. I can't believe that you're here, that you're mine." She stroked Nate's stomach gently, "Rachel's going to adore you" she then dropped a kiss to Annie's head, "and Beth's going to think you're like a little doll or something. You're so lucky" she told them both, "there are some pretty amazing people that can't wait to meet you. They're a little crazy sometimes but they already love you both so so much."

"Are you going to tell your parents?" Noah asked randomly as Shelby changed Annie's tiny diaper.

"No" Shelby said firmly as she taped up the clean diaper. "If they don't approve of our relationship then they wont approve of our children. I wont listen to my parents telling me what a massive mistake I've made, my children are not mistakes" she gestured for Noah to take his shirt off, "they might have been a little unexpected" she placed Annie on Noah's chest and covered her with a blanket, "but they are not mistakes. They are the best things to have happened to me and I'm not going to allow anyone to tell me or them otherwise."

Noah nodded and stroked Annie's head softly, she had a tiny amount of dark hair that spiralled out from her crown, "they're not mistakes" he agreed, "they're our perfect little miracles."

Shelby smiled as she lifted Nate into her arms, "you got that right."

Shelby and Noah sat with Annie and Nate until the paediatrician did his rounds a little after 8am and declared Annie fit enough to be taken off the oxygen meaning she could be moved into Shelby's room with her brother. Only once Annie and Nate were settled in what Noah had named their 'fish tanks' did Shelby finally allow herself to rest and she managed to get almost six hours sleep, only disturbed once when Nate demanded a feed and Shelby decided to feed Annie too so she wasn't woken again a few minutes later.

"Oh Momma" Beth gasped as she ran into the room, not bothering to greet Noah, "they're so small." Noah lifted Beth onto the bed where Shelby had just finished feeding Nate.

"This is your brother Nate" Shelby told her, smiling at Rachel as her eldest child entered the room with two helium balloons and an arm full of presents, "he's the first baby. Would you like to hold him?"

Beth's face lit up, "can I, can I really?" Her hatred of boys was quickly forgotten and Shelby, Noah and Rachel all knew that there was no way Beth would let Nate be left at the hospital.

"Sure" Shelby shifted Nate into her left arm before shuffling over and making room for Beth to sit beside her in the bed, she wrapped her right arm around Beth's shoulders before moving Nate onto Beth's lap. "You need to make sure you put your hand under his head, they can't hold their head up on their own until they get a little bigger." Shelby moved her right arm to help Beth support Nate's head.

"Look Momma" Beth was so excited as Nate screwed up his face and yawned before slowly opening first one eye and then the other, "he's waking up, he's saying hello" she grinned, "Hey Nate" she spoke to the baby, "I'm Beth your littlest big sister, Rachel's your biggest big sister."

Rachel smiled and moved over to the plastic crib by the window, "if that's Nate this must be Annie".

Noah nodded, "yeah" he watched Rachel hover over the crib for a minute before speaking again, "go for it, you don't have to ask to hold either of them."

"Oh you are a tiny little thing aren't you" Rachel cooed as she carefully lifted Annie to lay against her chest before kissing her head softly and smiling as she noticed Annie was sucking her thumb, something she remembered Shelby talking about after her ultrasounds.

"Go sit on the bed with her" Noah told Rachel, "let me get a picture of you all with your Mom."

Rachel cuddled Annie for a while before looking up at Beth, "hey Bee, can we swap babies?" she asked, "I'd like to say hello to Nate."

"Yeah" Beth still had a huge smile on her face, "I wanna hold Annie."

"Here" Noah stepped forward to take Annie from Rachel, "let me take her, then you can take Nate from Beth."

Beth froze as Noah lowered Annie into her arms, "No Daddy, she's too small, I don't wanna break her." Beth curled into Shelby's side.

"You won't hurt her baby, she might be little but she's tough."

"But she's so tiny Momma."

"She's only a tiny bit smaller than Nate" Shelby lied, "and you didn't hurt him."

Beth looked unsure, "Come on" Noah smiled, "I think she's been waiting to meet you." Beth shook her head and Noah thought of something else, "how about I sit in the chair and you sit on my lap, that way we can hold her together."

Beth seemed happier with this idea, "yeah and Mommy can look at all the presents we gots for you and her and Annie and Nate."

Shelby smiled, "that sounds good to me."

Noah passed Annie back to Shelby so he could pick up the gift bags and place them on the bed before he took Annie back and moved to sit in the chair with Beth.

"You've spoilt them" Shelby gasped as she worked through bags of clothes and toys for the twins, "they're not even a day old and you've already spoilt them."

"There's more at home Momma" Beth grinned from where she was sat with Noah, "but the stuffs was too big to bring so we left it at home so it can..." she trailed off as she realised what she'd said.

"So it can be a what?" Shelby asked.

"So it can be a surprise" Beth sighed.

Shelby laughed, "well I don't know what these big things are" she glared at Rachel before turning her attention back to Beth, "so that can be a surprise."

"Yeah" Beth smiled before looking up at Noah, "I think I'm done cuddling the babies now, can I go cuddle Momma?"

"Sure" Noah kissed her hair, "I think the twins have got you a little present too but I'm not sure where they put it."

Beth gasped, "for reals?"

"Yeah" he nodded, "for reals. Maybe if you give Momma a real nice cuddle she'll be able to tell you where the twins left it."

Rachel smiled as Beth climbed into the bed beside Shelby, completely oblivious to the fact Noah had just lifted two neatly wrapped parcels from Shelby's bag and placed one in each crib. "Do you know where the babies put me a present Momma?" Beth asked as she wrapped her arms tightly around Shelby.

Shelby pretended to think for a minute, "Well" she paused for a moment, "I know they were keeping them really safe so maybe they had them with them in their cribs."

Beth jumped from the bed, "Oh" she gasped, "they did they did" she saw there was a gift in both cribs, "are these both for me?"

"Yep" Shelby nodded, and Beth dropped to the floor as she tore the paper off the gifts. She shrieked in joy as she unwrapped first a dvd she'd wanted for a while and then a pink t-shirt that read 'I'm a big sister'.

"I love them" Beth grinned, kissing Shelby before going over to Noah, kissing Annie's head before finally walking up to Rachel and kissing Nate. "What about Rachel?" Beth asked, "did the babies get her anything?"

"Yeah" Shelby smiled, "they sure did." Shelby opened the drawer in the cabinet beside her bed, "this one's a jokey one" Shelby told Rachel as she held out the largest gift and this one's the real one, it's from both of them."

Rachel smiled and laid Annie back in her crib, "thanks" she said as she sat on the edge of the bed.

Shelby shook her head, "don't thank me, thank Annie and Nate, and Noah, he chose that" she gestured to the large 'jokey' gift that Rachel reached for first.

"I love it" she laughed as she unfolded the t-shirt that matched Beth's, only Rachel's read 'I'm the biggest sister'.

"Nate and Annie have got matching ones too, Nate's is 'little brother' and Annie's is 'little sister'." Shelby explained before pushing the smaller gift across the bed, "open the real one now."

"Oh Mom" Rachel gasped as she opened the blue box that was under the wrapping paper, "it, it's. I don't know what to say, it's beautiful."

"It's Beth and the twins" Shelby explained, "so you've always got a reminder of them, wherever you are."

"It's beautiful." Rachel couldn't tear her gaze away from the box, a simple chain with three gold stars hanging from it, a large one and two small ones, "thank you." she put the box down and wrapped her arms around Shelby, "thank you so much."

There were tears from Beth when Rachel announced it was time to go home, and it was only after Noah sent Rachel some pictures of the twins to print off at home for Beth to take to school, and she'd been promised by everyone in the room that she could visit again tomorrow, that she kissed Noah, Shelby, Annie and Nate and left without too much fuss.

The week seemed to pass slowly for everyone, Shelby and Noah wanted nothing more than to take their babies home and all Beth wanted was for her Momma to come home. Friday soon arrived and Shelby and Noah allowed Beth to have the day off school so she could be at home when the twins came home. It was a little after one when Shelby walked slowly into the house followed by Noah who carried a car seat in each hand, he placed the car seats on the floor, both babies were sleeping and Neither Noah or Shelby were willing to risk waking them. "Careful boy" Noah warned as Bruno walked towards the babies. The dog lowered his head and slowly finished his journey towards the new additions to the family. He sniffed around the car seats for a while before lying down in front of the babies, his paws out in front of him and his head on the floor, he looked up at Noah and barked quietly as if to tell him that the babies were safe under his watch.

"Do you like the banners?" Beth asked as she sat beside Shelby, she and Rachel had spent the morning decorating the living room with both blue 'it's a boy' and pink 'it's a girl' banners and there were literally hundreds of balloons on the wall, on the floor and even some helium ones on the ceiling.

"It's beautiful Bee" Shelby pulled Beth to sit on her lap, cuddling her in a way her stomach had prevented for the last several months, "and when they wake up I'm sure Annie and Nate will love it too."

"We've got presents for the babies" Beth told Shelby, pointing to the large pile of neatly wrapped gifts in the corner of the room.

"Before you say anything" Rachel interrupted, "they're not all from me and Beth, some are from Sarah and Hannah, my fathers have sent gifts along with most of the Glee club. A colleague of Noah's bought round something they'd all put together to buy and even Mr and Mrs Schuester sent a gift with Hannah."

"Even so" Shelby raised an eyebrow, "that leaves a lot of things."

"I've never been around for the birth of a sibling before. Deal with it" Rachel said before walking into the kitchen and signalling that the conversation was over.

The next couple of days were crazy, it was like everyone in Lima wanted to meet the new arrivals and both Shelby and Noah were exhausted and it seemed like as soon as they had one twin settled the other would start crying for something. Shelby felt like her worst fears were coming true when she realised she was so busy with the twins that she'd hardly spent any time with Beth since she'd come home from the hospital but Beth didn't seem to mind. Rachel, without telling Shelby, had arranged to take six weeks off from her performance to help out and Beth loved being able to spend so much time with her oldest sister.

It was the third night that the twins were home when things first began to go wrong, "Is everything okay?" Rachel yawned as she stepped out into the landing to find Shelby sat on the floor rocking Nate. The baby had been crying for the past twenty minutes and nothing Shelby had done had calmed him.

"I can't get him to stop crying" Shelby sobbed, "I'm fucking exhausted and that bastard's fallen asleep in Beth's bed knowing full well that if I wake him Beth will wake up too." She bounced Nate in her arms, "please baby, go to sleep" she kissed his head, "please".

"Have you fed him?"

"I've tried" Shelby sniffled, "but he wont take it, I don't think he's hungry, I think he's just being cranky, I think he's so tired he can't fall asleep."

"Okay" Rachel took Nate from the Shelby and laid him carefully on the floor, "come on" she pulled Shelby to her feet.

"What are you doing?" Shelby asked, "you can't just leave him there Rach, you can't just let him cry."

"I'm putting you in bed" Rachel said matter of factly, "then I'm going to take Nate downstairs so you can get some sleep."

"Rachel" Shelby protested, "you can't, I can't expect you to do that."

"You can't do this on your own and Noah is obviously no use right now so I'm going to step in and help you out."

"Rachel"

"Mom" Rachel said firmly, "I'm going to be blunt. You look like shit. You gave birth to twins just over a week ago, and I know, with the twins waking, that I've only just been getting the required eight hours of sleep a night. Not that I mind at all" she added quickly, "so you must be getting what, six, seven at the most? You need to sleep and you're going to sleep, I'm not arguing about it."

Shelby nodded and admitted defeat, the prospect of even an hour of uninterrupted sleep was too good to give up, "thank you Rachel" she smiled as she crawled beneath the sheets.

"It's not a problem" Rachel smiled as she straightened the covers around Shelby, "sweet dreams Mom" she whispered, kissing Shelby's forehead before walking back out to the landing to sort out Nate. "Hey baby" she cooed as she lifted him into her arms, "what's all this fuss about, we all know you're here" she walked down the stairs with him in her arms before beginning to pace the room as she rocked him, "there we go" she smiled as he finally quietened and his eyelids began to droop. She walked back up the stairs once he'd fallen asleep and laid him carefully in his Moses basket. She glanced into the second basket to find Annie staring back at her with wide eyes, the thumb on her left hand planted firmly in her mouth, "hey pretty girl" Rachel ran the back of her fingers down Annie's cheek, "you need to go to sleep so Momma can rest" she smiled at her baby sister, she kissed her fingers and placed them on Annie's cheek, "night Annie". Rachel was determined to help Shelby out so she climbed into bed beside her mother, smiling as she felt Shelby's arms snake around her waist. She'd assumed Shelby had mistaken her for Noah in her unconscious state so she was surprised to hear her whisper, "thanks Rach."

"Any time" Rachel replied, "I said I'd stay and help. I'll help out whenever you need me to."

Neither of them realised just how much Shelby, and Noah and the children, would need Rachel over the next few weeks.


	25. Chapter 25

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Annie and Nate (the twins) Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah), Bruno the dog & occasionally Rachel.

**A/N** - This is the last part I had pre-written. Going to try my best to keep updating twice a week though.

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><p>"Rach" Noah mumbled sleepily as he stumbled into his bedroom the next morning to find Shelby fast asleep in the bed and Rachel stood in the corner of the room rocking Annie gently, "what are you doing?"<p>

"I'm trying to get Annie back to sleep Noah, what does it look like I'm doing?"

"Why are you in here?" he asked, "I.." he ran his hand through his hair.

"Outside" Rachel laid Annie back in her Moses basket and gestured for Noah to join her in the hallway. "Shelby is exhausted Noah, I found her crying on the landing with Nate last night because she couldn't settle him. Whilst you were having a good night's sleep in Beth's bed, Shelby was this close" she held her thumb and forefinger up just millimetres apart "from having some sort of breakdown so I stepped in to help out. She's just had twins Noah, she needs to rest just as much, no" Rachel shook her head, "she needs to rest even more than you do. She needs you to support her and help her out, not for you to go off and sort yourself out without even thinking about her because if you think for a moment that your needs are any more important than Shelby's or your children's needs then you might as well leave Noah."

"Geez Rach, why didn't you just wake me up?"

"Because you were in bed with Beth Noah, when Shelby's got a screaming baby she can't settle, do you really think she wants to risk waking Beth up too?"

"Fuck" he groaned as he ran his hand over his head, "I'm sorry Rach."

Rachel shook her head, "it's not me you need to apologise to Noah" she pushed past him, "I'm going to make breakfast."

Noah sighed and made his way back into his bedroom, checking on the twins before laying on the bed beside Shelby. She felt the bed shift and opened her eyes as Noah brushed some hair off her face, "I'm so sorry Shelby. I didn't mean to fall asleep with Beth, I just, I don't know, I put her back in bed and the next thing I know I'm waking up next to her. I let you down Shelby and I'm sorry."

"I can't do this on my own" Shelby whispered, "I can't, I, I need to know you're going to help me out Noah. I know I'm going to have to get used to coping on my own for when you go back to work but right now. I need you, I can't expect Rachel to get up in the middle of the night to help with our babies."

"I'm sorry Shelby. I don't know how I can ever make it up to you but I am sorry. Why don't you take Rachel and Beth over to my Mom's tonight so you can all get some rest and I'll take care of Annie and Nate?"

Shelby shook her head, "I'd have to come back over every time one of them needed to be fed, and I don't want it to be one of us or the other looking after our babies, I want us to do it together Noah."

"We will Shelby and I don't know what else to say except I'm so sorry and I'll try not to let it happen again."

Shelby nodded, "I'm going to have a shower" she said as she stood from her bed and walked into the ensuite, shutting the door firmly behind her.

Noah didn't know how he was ever going to make it up to Shelby, she'd spent most of the day avoiding him as much as possible, only speaking to him when she had to and doing almost anything to get out of being in the same room as him. "Shelby" he grabbed her wrist as she tried to squeeze past him as he walked into the kitchen to find her putting bottles of expressed breast milk into the fridge, "please Shel, I fucked up, I know I did, but I hate knowing you're angry with me. Is there something, anything I can do to make it up to you?"

Shelby shook her head, "I'm exhausted and my hormones are still all over the place Noah, just, just let me be angry and grumpy for a while. And as for making it up to me, I've been expressing bottles and I'll be sleeping in the spare room with Rachel tonight, and then tomorrow we start from scratch."

Noah nodded, "okay" he smiled sadly, "and I know you're tired and angry but" he held his arms out, "can I still get a hug?" Shelby nodded and stepped into Noah's arms, tucking her head under his chin and wrapping his arms around his waist, "I've missed being able to hold you like this" Noah confessed, "it's nice not to have two babies in the way." Shelby hummed in response, she'd missed being this close to him too.

"I'm still mad at you" Shelby pouted as Noah kissed her hair.

"And I still love you no matter how angry you are."

"I'm mad at you" Shelby repeated, "stop trying to make me forget that."

Noah smiled, "worth a try though eh?"

"Yeah but I'm still mad, just give me today Noah, let me be mad today and we'll start again tomorrow."

"Okay" Noah kissed her hair again, "I love you."

Shelby sighed, "I love you too Noah."

"But you're still mad?"

Shelby nodded as she pulled away, "I'm still mad."

Noah spent the rest of the day doing all he could to make things up to Shelby, he made sure that he was the first to pick up the twins when they cried and he was the one that changed all their diapers, the only thing he let Shelby do was feed them and that was only because he couldn't do it himself. He made Shelby almost endless cups of tea and did all he could to try and make her smile and forget that she was angry with him.

As promised, Shelby slept in Rachel's room that night leaving Noah to deal with the twins, she woke a little before seven and slipped from the room without waking Rachel. She stood in the doorway of her own room for a while watching as Noah slept, he was half sat up in the bed with both twins laid against his chest. She kissed her babies and laid them in their Moses baskets before slipping into bed beside him and laying against his chest, "hey" he mumbled sleepily, "what time is it?"

Shelby leant up and kissed him, "almost seven."

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

Shelby nodded, "so should you, so lie down and lets sleep."

"Beth, someone needs to get her up and take her to school." Noah protested sleepily.

"Don't worry about it" Shelby smiled and kissed Noah again, "Rachel's going to take her so we can sleep".

"Mmm" Noah nuzzled against Shelby and pulled her closer, "I love you".

"I love you too."

The day went much smoother than the previous, Noah helped Shelby and Shelby helped Noah. They took their twins on their first outing when they both went to pick Beth up from school and the young girl was delighted to be able to show her brother and sister off to her friends, "Momma, will you read with me? I got a new book today?" Beth asked as she walked into the living room later that night, Noah was making a start on dinner and Rachel was in the shower.

"Of course I will darling but I'll need you to turn the pages okay, I'm feeding Annie." Nate was sleeping in a bouncer chair by Shelby's feet and she cradled the small girl to her chest, she was so small she didn't take much from each feed before tiring herself out and so Shelby felt like Annie was constantly attached to her breast, she'd sleep for a while before falling asleep only to wake ten minutes later to feed again. Shelby could have Nate fed and winded in fifteen minutes but with Annie it took almost an hour.

"Okay" Beth smiled as Shelby shifted Annie slightly and propped her up on some cushions so she'd have a free arm to wrap around Beth, "I've practised reading this one today with Miss Carter, she said I'm really good, there's just some real big words what you haves to help me on."

"Okay beautiful" Shelby kissed Beth's head, "show me and Annie how brilliant you are."

"What about Nate?" Beth asked peering at the baby by Shelby's feet, "will he listen too."

Shelby smiled down at her son, "I'm sure he will Bee, I'm sure he will."

Shelby went for a shower after dinner and she came back downstairs to find Nate laid on the playmat, Beth laid beside him singing to him and making the toys on the playbar over his head 'dance' in time with the song she was singing. "Where's Annie?" she asked Noah was she walked into the kitchen where he was washing the dishes.

"I don't know" he shrugged, "Rachel had her last, she started crying when I was changing Nate so Rachel said she'd see to her. Aren't they in there with Beth and Nate?"

"No, Beth's playing with Nate but Rachel and Annie aren't there."

Noah shrugged again, "maybe Rachel took her upstairs or something."

"Yeah, maybe she did" Shelby pecked Noah's cheek, "I'm gonna go see if I can find them." She smiled as she found them, her oldest daughter curled protectively around her youngest as they both slept peacefully. She hated knowing she was mostly to blame for Rachel being so tired but at the same time she was so incredibly grateful for all the help Rachel had given her, she didn't know how she'd come when Rachel went back to New York and Noah went back to work. "Oh baby" she sat on the bed so Annie was now between her and Rachel and ran the back of her fingers gently down Rachel's cheek.

"Hey" Rachel whispered sleepily as she opened her eyes, "sorry, I, she was crying, it was a bit crazy downstairs, I was going to lay her in her crib or something once she'd settled, I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's okay" Shelby smiled as Rachel linked her fingers through Shelby's, "I just wondered where you'd gotten to, I didn't mean to wake you."

Rachel smiled sleepily, "I'm glad you did, I probably wouldn't have slept tonight if you hadn't. I'm sorry if you worried when Annie wasn't downstairs."

"You probably wont sleep tonight anyway" Shelby laughed, "and I didn't worry, Noah said she was with you so I knew she was safe."

"You, you trust me with her?"

Shelby nodded, "of course I do, you're her big sister."

"You don't think I'll be struck by a fit of jealous rage and do something to her?"

Shelby frowned, "are you jealous?" Rachel closed her eyes and Shelby squeezed the hand that was still holding hers softly, "Rach? Please darling, be honest with me."

Rachel sighed and nodded, her eyes still firmly closed, "yeah" she whispered, "a little bit."

"Want to look at me and tell me about it? Or we can put Annie in my room and snuggle?"

"I, I guess I just see you with them and I know you're going to be such an amazing mother to them like you were, like you are with Beth and I, I hate that they're going to have so many amazing memories with you that we'll never have. Don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful that I have you now and that we were able to make something of our mother daughter relationship but eighteen years, it's a lot to have missed right."

"It is" Shelby agreed, "but darling, we can't change the past, no matter how much we both wish we could, we can't get those years back, but we can try and make the most of the years we have in front of us and we can't do that if we're constantly dwelling on what we missed. I hate that I missed out on so much too Rachel, but I'm so so grateful that you gave me another chance and you're here now. I love you so much and no matter how many other children I have I will always, always be here for you okay, whenever you need me, I'm never any more than a phone call away."

Rachel nodded and smiled as Shelby walked around the bed and pulled her into a tight hug, "I love you Mom" she whispered.

Shelby smiled, "I love you too baby."

Rachel laughed, "I'm not a baby"

"You're my baby" Shelby said firmly, "you'll always be my baby." She scooped Annie into her arms as she saw her wake and held her between herself and Rachel, "Noah thinks she'll look like us" Shelby smiled as she gazed at Annie, "but I can't see it."

"I think Nate looks like you" Rachel told her, "but I think Annie's got Noah's nose, your cheekbones maybe and her eyes are shaped like Noah's but they're dark like yours."

"You think?"

"Yeah" Rachel nodded, "Nate's all you but Annie, she's like the perfect mix of you both. But it doesn't matter, you're stunning and Noah's pretty handsome, whichever of you they take after they're going to be beautiful."

Shelby smiled, "I'm lucky to have four beautiful children", she saw the look on Rachel's face, "what? You think we look alike right?" Rachel nodded, "and you've just described me as 'stunning' so you must be at least 'pretty hot' yourself." Rachel laughed and Shelby smiled before kissing Rachel's head, "come on beautiful" she stood from the bed, "let's go downstairs and see what trouble Noah, Beth, Bruno and Nate have gotten up to."

"Mommy, Rachel" Beth grinned as they entered the room, she was sat on the sofa beside Noah, as close to her father as she could be without sitting on his lap and Bruno was laid exactly half way between Beth's feet and the playmat Nate was sleeping on, "Daddy says I can watch Cinderelly before I have to go to bed, can you watch it with us?"

"Of course" Rachel smiled, sitting at the end of the sofa to leave room for Shelby to sit beside Beth.

"Can you wait two minutes before you start?" Shelby asked as she laid Annie beside Nate.

"Yep" Beth nodded, "do you have to go pee Momma?"

Rachel and Noah laughed as Shelby blushed, "no baby, I don't have to pee. I thought I could make us all some popcorn but I don't think cheeky little monkeys like popcorn so maybe I won't bother."

"But Momma" Beth whined, "I'm not a cheeky monkey, Daddy told me you had to pee a lot."

Now it was Noah's turn to blush as Shelby glared at him, "I said the babies made you pee a lot when you were pregnant" he explained to Shelby before turning his attention to Beth, "now the babies have been born Momma doesn't have to pee all the time" he explained.

"So can I still have popcorn?" Beth asked.

Shelby laughed and nodded her head, "you can baby" she glared at Noah, "but daddy's not allowed any."

"Don't worry daddy" Shelby heard Beth whisper not so quietly as she walked into the kitchen, "you can have some of my popcorn."


	26. Chapter 26

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Annie and Nate (the twins) Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah), Bruno the dog & occasionally Rachel.

**A/N** - I think you might all hate me when you read how this chapter ends. And then you might hate me a bit more when I say that I might not be able to get a Tuesday update out this week, but remember, if you kill me you'll never find out what happens next!

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><p>"Hannah" Shelby smiled as she opened the door, "how many times do we have to tell you you don't have to knock when you come over, but what are you doing here" Shelby glanced at her watch, it was just after 2pm, "shouldn't you still be at school?"<p>

Hannah nodded, "there's something wrong with the electrics, there's no power we've all been sent home but mom's working til 3 and I've not got my keys."

Shelby nodded, "you better make yourself at home then."

Shelby and Hannah sat talking for a while before Noah came downstairs with a twin cradled in each arm, "she's hungry" he passed Annie to Shelby, "and you can take this one off me, I'm going to go and get some more diapers before I pick Beth up" he placed Nate in Hannah's arms, kissing Shelby's head before leaving the room. "Wait" he walked back into the room a short moment later, "why aren't you at school Han?"

"Power cut" she said simply. Noah nodded and looked slightly confused as he walked back out of the room?"

"What aren't you telling me?" Shelby asked as she watched Hannah sit on the edge of the sofa with Nate in her arms, the pair had been sat in silence for a while but Shelby couldn't take it any longer.

Hannah blushed, she was glad Shelby was always there when she needed someone to talk to but she hated that the older woman could now read her like a book, "you can't say anything to anyone but I, I've erm, I'vegotadateattheweekend" she mumbled, suddenly unable to tear her eyes away from Nate.

"You've got a date?" Shelby grinned as she moved to sit beside Hannah, "tell me tell me."

Hannah laughed, "she's called Kyra, she's a cheerio, she started coming to the support group thing Principal Sylvester set up.

"What's she like? Where are you going on your date?" Shelby was like an excited teenager.

"She's nice" Hannah blushed, "she's" she giggled, "she's tall, dark and well, she's beautiful. I don't really know what she sees in me. And I don't know where we're going, she says it's a surprise. I, I've never been on a date before" she said quietly, "would you and Rachel help me get ready for it?"

Shelby nodded, "of course we will" she smiled, "are you excited?"

Hannah nodded, "but I sort of feel sick every time I think of it. I really like her, I don't want to mess it up."

"How long have you known her?"

"A couple of months, I guess I'm scared I'm not popular enough for her, like Noah says I can be a bit of a dork at times."

"She's known you a couple of months and she still wants to take you on a date, she's not rushed into it. I just hope she's good enough for you" Shelby smiled, "and maybe she thinks dorks are cute" she teased. They talked for a while before Shelby suddenly felt herself close to tears, Hannah's excitement about her date only served to remind Shelby how far she felt she'd slipped from Noah in the few short weeks since she'd had Annie and Nate, "are you okay to just keep an eye on these two for a minute?" she asked, leaving the room once Hannah had assured her she'd be fine.

"It's only me" Sarah called as she walked into the house, "I'm missing a daughter, is she here?" It took a moment for her to notice Shelby sat on the stairs, her head against the wall, tears silently rolling down her cheeks, "Shelby" Sarah sat beside her on the stairs, "are you okay?"

Shelby sniffed and nodded as she wiped at her eyes, "I'm just being silly" she forced a smile, "I think I've got a bit of the 'baby blues', I'll be fine" she forced another smile and wiped at her cheeks again, "Hannah's in the living room with the twins, I'm just going to go and clean up, make yourself at home."

Sarah nodded and looked at Shelby suspiciously, "you're sure you're okay? You know you can talk to me if there's anything you need to get off your chest?"

"Yeah" Shelby nodded, "I do, thanks, but I'm fine, like I said I'm just being silly, it's nothing really."

By the time Shelby came back downstairs Noah had returned from picking Beth up and Rachel was back from lunch with her fathers. She stood silently in the doorway for a while, Annie was laid against Noah's chest and Rachel held Nate on her lap listening to Beth talk animatedly about her day, she heard Noah make a comment about Beth chasing boys and almost burst into tears again when she heard Rachel tell him to leave Beth alone, she felt like an outsider, like she was watching a real family through the window. She knew Noah and Rachel had dated for a while and now it seemed so clear, Noah was only with her because he couldn't have Rachel. Things would certainly be easier if Noah was in a relationship with Rachel, she'd be able to give him all the children he deserved and no one would tease Beth because of the age difference between her parents. She was sure that everyone would be better off if she just packed up her thins and left.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" Noah smiled as he finally saw Shelby stood in the doorway, "or are you going to come in?" He held Annie against his chest with his right arm before reaching out his left towards Shelby. "Hey" he kissed her head as she snuggled into his side, "are you okay?" he asked, "you look like you've been crying."

Shelby nodded, "I'm okay, still a bit hormonal I guess." Noah nodded, accepting the lie and kissing Shelby's head again before turning his attention back to Beth's story.

Rachel made dinner that night, "is it okay?" she asked as she saw Shelby pushing the pasta around her plate with her fork, she'd hardly eaten a thing, "I can make you something else if you'd rather."

Shelby shook her head, "I'm okay, I'm not really that hungry, I, I'll get something later."

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked, "I don't mind making you something else?"

"Are you okay?" Noah asked, "You're not coming down with anything?"

Shelby shook her head, "I'm fine, I'm just not hungry", the sound of a cry was heard over the baby monitor on the counter, "I'll go" she stood from the table before Noah or Rachel had chance, "they'll both need feeding soon anyway."

It was a couple of days before Shelby could put her plan into action, Rachel had gone back to New York and Noah had gone into work to talk about extending his paternity leave, With Rachel gone and Noah working, Shelby had to call on Hannah, who was still off school because of the power failure, for baby sitting duties, "I need to get some groceries" she'd explained on the phone, "and it would be so much easier if I didn't have to take the babies with me."

Rachel had noticed Shelby's mood slowly changing for the worse and she'd mentioned it to Sarah. As much as she hated leaving Shelby she needed to go back to New York and she needed to know someone was keeping an eye on her Mom, Shelby was obviously struggling so Rachel had made the decision to quit the show she'd taken time off from to support her family back in Lima, she needed to speak to the director and collect a few things from her apartment. She'd already been in New York for two days and was aiming to be back in Lima tomorrow, if not later that night.

Shelby had been gone for almost three hours when Hannah began to get worried, and when Annie woke crying for a feed Hannah opened the fridge to get a bottle only to find it completely full of food. She somehow managed to feed Annie with one hand and used her free hand to call Shelby. After several failed attempts at calling Shelby, Hannah had called Sarah, "Mom" she sighed when Sarah answered the phone, "I'm worried about Shelby, she asked me to watch the twins so she could go grocery shopping, she's been gone hours, the fridge and the cupboards are full and she's not answering her phone." Hannah explained and Sarah rushed straight home from work.

All Shelby's clothes were in the wardrobe but her purse, house keys and phone were laid out neatly on the dresser with an envelope simply labelled 'Noah'. Sarah noticed the envelope was open and slipped out the folded piece of paper, _'Noah, I'm sorry but I can't do this any more. I can't do this on my own, I can't do this. I hate looking at my children and thinking that if I'd known when I first got pregnant how much this would take out of me, out of our relationship then I wouldn't have had them. Annie and Nate deserve so much more than someone who thinks about what life would be like if they'd never been born. I love you Noah but you deserve better, you deserve so much more than I could ever give you so I'm letting go, I'm giving you the chance to find someone who can give you everything you deserve. I love you Noah and I'm sorry it has to end like this but I can't see any other way. All my love, Shelby xx'_

Sarah looked to Hannah, "Ring Noah and Rachel, tell them Shelby''s gone missing. I'm going to ring the police and the emergency room, I hope to God she doesn't come to any harm but I'll ask someone to keep an eye out just in case."

Hannah nodded, "what about Beth?"

Sarah sighed, "for now we just tell her Shelby's gone out, we'll think of something else when we have to."

Shelby hadn't gone to the store, she'd driven to a park not too far from her home and she'd sat for a while, staring into the distance trying to get her thoughts in order. She'd only realised that tears were steadily rolling down her face when a young boy, no older than four, had asked why she was sad. She'd told him she was fine before standing from the bench and beginning to walk. She didn't have a destination in mind as she walked through the streets, she went wherever her feet took her, she didn't care where she ended up as long as it was away from that house. Even now she could still hear Nate and Annie screaming as she tried in vain to stop them crying. What sort of mother was she if she couldn't even settle her own babies? She saw a car speeding down the road towards her, the driver obviously going much faster than the speed limit allowed. She knew at that moment there was only one thing she could do, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes before stepping into the road and waiting...


	27. Chapter 27

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Annie and Nate (the twins) Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah), Bruno the dog & occasionally Rachel.

**A/N** - I've typed so fast I think I've got blisters on my fingers, but here's your Tuesday update! And Saturday's update is already about halfway done. Happy Reading!

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><p>She heard the screech of brakes but the impact she'd braced herself for never happened, "what are you doing you stupid bitch?" The driver from the car yelled as he stepped out, "I could have fucking killed you. I could have fucking killed myself trying not to hit you." Shelby opened her eyes to find the car sideways in the road less than an inch from her. When she realised just how close she'd been to ending everything she burst into tears before turning and running.<p>

Meanwhile Rachel had finally arrived back in Lima and had started the search for Shelby without even going home, she'd checked several places before deciding to check the park and she called Sarah as she pulled up beside a familiar black SUV. "I've found her car" she told Sarah, "but she's not here. I'm going to wait here for a while in case she comes back."

It was almost an hour later when Shelby finally arrived back at her car, Rachel saw her collapse in a shaking heap on the floor and sent a quick text to Sarah, _'I've got her'_ it said simply. Her phone beeped once to tell her her message had been sent and she switched it off and threw it into the pocket on the drivers door before getting out of her car and walking over to Shelby.

Shelby didn't register the hard gravel cutting into her skin, she didn't even remember how she came to be laid in a ball on the floor anyway. She didn't hear anyone walk over to her and she didn't notice the arm that wrapped around her shoulder but she did feel the gentle kiss that was placed on her temple and she only sobbed harder when she slowly opened her eyes to see Rachel sat on the floor beside her. Rachel said nothing but allowed Shelby to cry into her, rubbing her back and running her fingers through her hair until Shelby had no tears left to cry. "Do you want to go home?" Rachel asked softly once Shelby's sobs had calmed to the occasional sniffle. She didn't really want to go home but she didn't see any other choice, "if you need a break I'm sure Noah and Sarah wouldn't mind watching the kids so we can check into a hotel for the night."

It was as if Rachel had read Shelby's mind but she shook her head, "I'll go home."

"Okay" Rachel nodded and helped Shelby to her feet, "I'm not going to force you to tell me what happened today but if you want to tell me anything you know I'm always here right?"

Shelby sniffed, "you shouldn't have to Rachel, I'm your Mom, it should be me being there for you."

"And you are, when I need you you're there but it works both ways and right now you need someone. And anyway" Rachel smiled as she opened the glove compartment and passed Shelby some tissues and a bottle of water, "when have we ever conformed to the ideals of a stereotypical mother daughter relationship?"

Shelby couldn't help but smile slightly before she asked, "is Noah mad that I left Hannah with the twins?"

Rachel shook her head, "he's worried about you Shelby, we all were, but he's not angry." Shelby sighed, "would you like me to ask him to give you some space when you get home? He's going to have questions but I can ask him to lay off for a while while you try and get your head together?"

Shelby nodded, "I don't think I could face him just yet."

Rachel nodded, "Okay" she smiled, "don't worry about it Mom." She took out her phone and fired off another quick text to Sarah before turning to Shelby, "Ready to go?" Shelby nodded wanted nothing more than to get out of the car and run as fast as she could in the opposite direction to home but she didn't have the energy so she nodded slowly and leant back against the seat as Rachel began to drive. She didn't even care what happened to her car.

Sarah had told Noah that Shelby wanted some space so they both sat in the living room with Hannah and the twins as Rachel lead Shelby up to the spare bedroom that had become her own over the past few weeks, "don't leave me" Shelby whispered on the edge of the bed, "please don't leave me Rachel."

Rachel sat on the edge of the bed beside Shelby, wrapping an arm around at her shoulders, "I'm not going anywhere Mom, I'm going to be right here as long as you need me to be, that's why I went back to New York, I quit the play. I'm here for you."

"No" Shelby started to sob, "you can't do that Rachel, you can't, you need to do the show, you need to go back and tell the director you made a mistake."

Rachel shook her head and wiped at Shelby's tears, "I want to be here for you more than I want to be on Broadway, New York will always be there, but" Rachel took a deep breath and tried to stop her own tears from falling, "but I'm worried you wont be."

Shelby sobbed harder, "I'm sorry Rachel" she clung to her eldest daughter like her life depended on it, and for a moment she realised that right now it probably did.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for" Rachel reached for the tissues and passed some to Shelby, "I should be the one apologising, I've noticed you've not been yourself for a while. I should have said something, I should have done something." She paused for a minute, "Please don't be angry, but Sarah called the doctor you saw when you were pregnant, she's made an appointment for you to see him tomorrow."

Shelby nodded, she didn't have the energy to argue, "I'm so tired Rachel, so so tired."

Rachel smiled sadly, "let's lie down for a while then" she moved them so they were both laying on the bed, Shelby's back against her chest, "Hannah and Sarah are both going to stay over to help Noah with the kids. They've told Beth you're not feeling well."

The room was silent for a while before Shelby spoke quietly, "please" she all but whispered, "can you sing me something."

Rachel smiled, "sure, anything in particular?"

Shelby shook her head and laid her hands on top of Rachel's that were wrapped around her stomach, "anything."

"Okay" Rachel hummed for a moment before she began to sing, _"When you feel all alone and the world has turned its back on you, give me a moment please to tame your wild wild heart. I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you, it's hard to find relief and people can be so cold." _She felt Shelby sob harder as she continued to sing and dropped a kiss to her mother's dark hair. They'd not started off on the best footing but Rachel loved her mother more than anything and it was killing her to see the woman in so much pain, , _"When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you can't take any more, let me be the one you call, if you jump I'll break your fall, lift you up and fly away with you into the night. If you need to fall apart I can mend a broken heart, if you need to crash then crash and burn you're not alone."_Shelby shifted slightly in Rachel's embrace and Rachel was sure she heard Shelby gasp in pain and she paused for a minute but when Shelby said nothing she carried on with the song. _"When you feel all alone and a loyal friend is hard to find, you're caught in a one way street with the monsters in your head, when hopes and dreams are far away and you feel like you can't face the day, let me be the one you call if you jump I'll break your fall, lift you up and fly away with you into the night. If you need to fall apart I can mend a broken heart, if you need to crash then crash and burn you're not alone." _Once again Shelby shuffled on the bed and again Rachel heard her gasp, Rachel kissed Shelby again, wishing that there was something, anything she could do to make all this go away, _"Cos there has always been heartache and pain, and when it's over you'll breathe again. You'll breath again_. " She felt Shelby move again only this time she groaned before beginning to sob again, "Mom" Rachel whispered, "are you okay?" Shelby shook her head and Rachel slipped from the bed, moving to the other side of Shelby, "what's wrong?" she asked, brushing Shelby's hair back from her face. "Mom?"

"It's been hours, they're so sore" Shelby whispered as she glanced downwards.

"What do you...?" Rachel was confused for a minute before she followed Shelby's gaze and noticed the wet spot on her mother's chest, "oh right, do you need to pump or something."

"I, I'd rather feed my babies" Shelby sighed, "if I can."

"Of course you can" Rachel smiled, "I'll go get them both, I'm sure they'll be happy to see you."

"Is everything okay?" Noah shot to his feet as Rachel walked into the room.

Rachel nodded, "it's been a while since Shelby fed the twins, she's a getting a little uncomfortable, I said I'd take Annie and Nate up for her to feed."

Noah nodded, "can I, I mean do you think she'd mind if I went up? I just want to tell her I love her."

Rachel nodded, "sure, you grab Nate and I'll take Annie, but if she asks you to leave or she doesn't want to see you Noah then you need to give her her space, just for tonight."

Noah picked Nate up out of his Moses basket and carried him upstairs as Rachel did the same with Annie. "Hey" Noah whispered as he placed Nate in Shelby's arms, "I know you want some space" he wiped at her tears and tucked her hair behind her ears, "but I just wanted to tell you that I love you" he tilted her chin up so she had no choice but to look at him, "I love you so much Shelby, and if you need anything, anything at all, you know that all you have to do is say the words right. Whatever's going on in here" he tapped the side of her head softly, "whatever you're going through, you'll get through it Shel, things will get better and I promise you wont have to do it on your own. We're all here for you and we all love you." he kissed her again, "I'll be right downstairs if you need anything."

He nodded in thanks to Rachel as walked out of the room, grateful that she'd waited on the landing, "someone's hungry" Rachel nodded towards Nate who was already suckling against Shelby's breast.

"Yeah" she nodded, slipping her damp t shirt over her head, "he'll be able to smell it." Only the sound of Nate gulping broke the silence until Shelby spoke again, "I, I've not really spent any time alone with them since they were born" she sighed, "it's like Noah sometimes forgets that they're my babies too. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that he wants to be so involved, but sometimes I just want to lay with them, watch them sleep. I just..."

Rachel laid Annie on the bed beside Shelby, "I'll go get us something to eat" she smiled, "call me if you need me."

"And you" Shelby ran her hand lightly over Annie's cheek, "you could be president, you could be an astronaut, you could be anything." She paused to wipe at her eyes, "I love you both so much and I can't wait to find out who you are. I can't wait to see what you become." She kissed first Annie and then Nate as they laid, fast asleep, on the bed beside her. "I hope you always know that I love you, you can get pregnant at fourteen, you can question your sexuality, you can be angry, you can fight, you can scream and shout but I never ever want you to question my love for you. I hope you always feel like you can come and talk to me, don't ever feel like there's anything you can't tell me. I messed things up with Rachel, I hope I never make you feel like I made her feel."

Rachel took this as her cue to enter the room, "no" she said softly so not to scare Shelby, "you want to make them feel exactly how you make me feel" she placed the tray she'd been carrying on the drawers by the bed, "you make me feel happy, safe and loved and that's the truth Mom." She sat beside Shelby, "no more tears" she wiped away Shelby's tears with her thumb before kissing her damp cheeks, "I didn't know how hungry you were so I made sandwiches, but I can go and get something else if you'd rather. And I bought you a clean top"

Shelby shook her head before slipping the t shirt on, "I'm not..."

"Mom" Rachel interrupted, "please, you need to eat something, you've lost so much weight since you had the twins and I don't mean in a healthy way, please, you want to see who Annie and Nate become, you need to keep yourself healthy, whatever you're dong you need to stop Mom." Rachel took a deep breath and tried to stop her own tears from falling, "I left the play on Broadway to spend more time with you and my family. I, I can't sit here and watch you self destruct."

Shelby nodded, "I, I'm sorry."

Rachel shook her head, "you don't need to be sorry, you just...Eat something, please."

Shelby nodded again and took the plate Rachel held out towards her, "thank you."

Rachel smiled and took her own plate from the tray, "any time" she smiled, "it's what I'm here for."

Shelby forced a smile and nodded again, she was going to get through this, as hard as it would be. She needed to get through this, for her children if not for herself.


	28. Chapter 28

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Annie and Nate (the twins) Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah), Bruno the dog & occasionally Rachel.

**A/N** - Question for you all, would you prefer updates this size once a week, or updates half this size twice a week?

It's a long part today, I probably won't always go into too much detail about Shelby's therapy sessions, but I thought this one was important. Happy reading :)

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><p>Shelby slept in Rachel's bed that night, Hannah slept in Beth's room and Sarah shared with Noah to help him with the twins. Beth woke a little after 4am and carefully slipped from the bed without waking Hannah. She crept silently down the hall and peered round the door of her parents room only to see her Bubbe where she'd expected to find her Momma. She sighed and rubbed at her tired eyes before going to find the next best thing, if she couldn't find her Momma, she'd have to get cuddles from Rachel.<p>

The creek of the door woke Rachel, and she smiled sleepily at Beth, "hey" she whispered as Beth stepped into the room, "is everything okay?"

Beth nodded, "I wanted to cuddle with Momma but I can't find her, can I cuddle with you instead?"

Rachel and nodded, "you can snuggle with me and Momma, she's right here" she smiled as she lifted up the sheets and allowed Beth to climb over her into the middle of the bed.

Beth immediately snuggled into the gap between her mother and sister and wrapped her arms as far around Shelby as she could, "I love you Momma" she whispered.

"I love you too Bee" Shelby mumbled sleepily, scaring both Rachel and Beth who hadn't realised she was awake, "but why aren't you sleeping?"

Beth shrugged, "I waked up and I just missed you Momma. I wanted to cuddle with you but Bubbe was in bed with Daddy so I came to cuddle with Rachel but you're here too so I can cuddle you both." Shelby smiled, Beth might not be biologically related to her mother or her eldest sister, but she had certainly picked up a lot of their habits, cuddling being one of them.

"Okay" Shelby smiled, rolling over to face Beth and Rachel, "let's cuddle and go back sleep" she kissed Beth's forehead before kissing her fingers and laying them on Rachel's cheek.

"Can you walk me to school tomorrow?" Beth asked as she began to play with Shelby's fingers, "just you, not Rachel or Daddy or Bubbe or Annie or Nate. Just you?"

Shelby nodded, "Of course I can baby" she kissed Beth again, "but you need to close your eyes and go to sleep or you'll be too tired to walk to school."

"I love you Momma" Beth sighed as she closed her eyes and shifted slightly in the bed to get comfy.

"I love you too Bee."

"I love you Rachel."

Rachel chuckled quietly, "I love you too Beth".

The room was silent for a moment before Beth spoke again, "Momma" she whispered loudly, "we can't go to sleep til you've said 'I love you' to Rachel and she says it back."

Shelby smiled, "I love you Rach".

Rachel smiled too and squeezed Shelby's hand under the covers, "I love you too Mom."

Noah burst into the room the next morning, "I can't find...Oh God she's in here." He put his hand on his heart, "Beth wasn't in her bed" he explained to a confused Shelby and Rachel, "I went to wake her and Hannah up and she wasn't there."

"She woke in the night" Shelby explained, "and wanted to cuddle."

Noah nodded and smiled softly at Shelby, "it's 7.15, I'll make breakfast if you want to shower or something? Mom said your appointment is at 10.30."

"Thanks" Shelby smiled, "I promised Beth I'd walk her to school, will you be okay with Annie and Nate?"

Noah nodded and leant across Rachel and a still sleeping Beth to kiss Shelby's cheek, "of course I am. You just do what you need to do" he kissed her again, "I'll be downstairs being a domestic God when you're ready" he said, leaving the room with a wink.

"Hey Bee" Shelby shook Beth gently and kissed her head, "it's time to wake up."

"Don't wanna."

"Come on" Shelby lifted Beth to sit on her knee, "we need to get up and get you dressed so I can walk you to school."

Rachel took Beth's hand and shook it softly, "come on sleepy head, I'll help you get dressed so Momma can hop in the shower, and then she'll meet us in the kitchen."

Beth sleepily opened her eyes, "promise you'll meet us in the kitchen?" she asked Shelby.

"I promise" Shelby nodded, kissing Beth again and watching as she walked out of the room hand in hand with Rachel. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself down before wiping at her eyes and heading for the shower, trying to prepare herself for what was to come.

"Do you want me to come to the doctors with you?" Rachel asked once Shelby was back from taking Beth to school.

Shelby nodded, "please."

"Okay" Rachel smiled, "do you want me to drive or...?"

Shelby gasped, "my car, I..."

"is in the garage" Rachel finished her sentence, "Noah bought it home for you last night."

Shelby nodded, "right, yeah, can, would you drive please?"

Rachel nodded, "of course, I wouldn't have offered otherwise. We'll leave in about 15 minutes okay?" Shelby nodded and Rachel smiled, "I'm just going to use the bathroom."

Shelby walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water and she found Noah sat at the table, Nate laid against the chest as he read the morning paper, "hey" Noah smiled as Shelby walked into the room, "everything okay?"

Shelby nodded, "yeah. You?"

"Yeah." Noah nodded, "Annie's asleep but this little guy wont go down", he bounced Nate gently to demonstrate that he was still awake, "I think we've run out of luck with them being on the same routine" he smiled. There was silence for a minute before Noah spoke again, "do you want me to come with you, to your appointment?"

Shelby shook her head, "Rachel's gonna come, but tonight, when the kids are all asleep, can we, can we talk?"

Noah stood from the table and walked over to Shelby, kissing her cheek softly, "you don't have to ask Shel, I said I'll be there whenever you need me and I mean that. Tonight, when the littlies are asleep I'm all yours okay." He kissed her softly, "I'm always here for you Shel, whether that means watching the kids so you can have some time to yourself, or it means holding you while you cry, whatever you need me to do babe, all you have to do is say the words. I'm not going anywhere."

Shelby nodded, "thank you." She let Noah wipe away the tears that seemed to be constantly damp on her cheeks, "I love you" she whispered, "I love you and I'm sorry."

"Hey" Noah linked the fingers of his free hand with Shelby's, "you've got nothing to be sorry for, and I love you too darling. I always have and I always will."

"Hey" Rachel hated to break up the scene in front of her but she didn't really have much of a choice, "are you ready to go Mom?"

Shelby nodded and kissed Noah again before kissing Nate, "I'll see you later."

Noah nodded, "I'll be here" he squeezed Shelby's hand, "it'll be okay Shel, don't worry about it."

"Shelby" her doctor smiled sadly as she entered the room, "take a seat." She sat in the chair she'd sat in so many times when she was pregnant, "I hear you've not been feeling too good." Shelby shook her head, "do you want to tell me about it?"

"It's all just a bit overwhelming sometimes" she admitted, "I hardly sleep, Rachel's given up her dreams because of me and I hate that and I feel like now Noah's got the babies he wanted, he doesn't want me any more."

"Hows your appetite been?"

Shelby shrugged, "I don't seem to be hungry any more, I eat because I know I need to, because I, I'm feeding the twins, but I don't feel hungry."

The doctor nodded, "and have you ever felt like hurting yourself or the twins?"

"Not the twins, I'd never, I wouldn't hurt my babies."

"And yourself?"

Shelby took a shaky breath as her eyes filled with tears, she knew she had to be honest but she was scared of what would happen when she admitted what she'd done. "Yesterday, I walked out, I, I couldn't, I.."

"Take your time" the doctor said softly as he passed over a box of tissues.

"I saw a car, I walked into the road. I, I think I wanted him to hit me."

"Shelby" the doctor stood from his seat and moved round his desk, "are you okay, physically I mean. Do you need to be checked over?"

She shook her head, "he didn't hit me."

"And do you still want to end your life?"

Shelby shook her head, "no. I couldn't, I couldn't do it to my family. I need to stop feeling like this. For them."

"You know what I'm going to say don't you?" The doctor asked from where he sat beside Shelby. She nodded slowly, "say it" he said, "they say the first step to getting over a problem is acknowledgement."

"Postnatal depression" Shelby whispered, "I had it after I had Rachel, but I assumed that was more to do with the adoption."

The doctor nodded, "this doesn't mean you've failed or you've let anyone down. Post natal depression is so common we have dedicated counsellors for it. We can get you through this. It might not be quick and it probably wont be easy but we can help you through it. I've made you an appointment with Mira, one of our specialist counsellors. I pulled in a few favours and she's managed to fit you in at two this afternoon, but you need to be honest with her Shelby. you need to tell her what you told me about yesterday."

Shelby sighed, "will I be..."

"Admitted?" The doctor asked, "sectioned?" Shelby nodded and the doctor shook his head, "I'll speak to Mira and tell her I wouldn't recommend it."

"But I..."

"You're a new mother, I'd hate to take any parent away from their children, especially one with post natal depression, you've told me you want to get help and you're not still having suicidal thoughts and I believe you Shelby. I also believe that you have an unbelievably strong support group in your family. You need to make the most of that. You're so lucky Shelby, I see some women with PND after having their first, second, fifth, eighth child whatever, who have absolutely no one Shelby. You have a family who I'm sure would do anything to be there for you. Let them in, it might be hard but it will help in the long run."

Shelby nodded, "I'll try."

"And that's all we'll ever ask Shelby, that you try." He smiled and tried to lighten the mood in the room, "Rachel's your double isn't she?" he'd seen Rachel for the first time when he'd called Shelby into his office and he couldn't believe how alike the pair were. "I've heard Mira's the best we have, but I've never had post natal depression, so if you don't get on with her, we've got other people you can see. If you don't feel like it's working with Mira, say something, tell me if you don't feel like you can tell her. We want to help you get through this just as much as you want to get through it."

"Thank you."

"It's okay" the doctor smiled, "just because you've delivered doesn't mean I've stopped caring, I'm still your doctor and if there's anything I can do to help you out, all you have to do is say." Shelby nodded, "now I know you've still got a couple of weeks before your six week check, but is there anything else worrying you?"

Shelby shook her head, "my babies are growing up so fast" she sniffed and smiled for the first time in a while, "Nate especially, he's already grown so much, he's got so much hair. I just need a way to keep them little for a while longer and then I'll be okay."

"They always grow up too fast, my eldest graduates high school this year. I swear it was only last week i was dropping her off for her first day at kindergarten. But they're doing well? They're feeding well and putting on weight?"

She nodded, "yeah, Nate drinks like he's never been fed before, but Annie takes forever. They're both putting weight on, slowly, but it's going on, and they're starting to develop their own personalities. Annie's so quiet and relaxed, but Nate wants attention all the time. If we hear one baby cry, you can bet your life that it'll be Nate. Annie seems happy just to sit back and take everything in."

"I'm glad to hear they're doing well" the doctor smiled, "and with a little time and the right help you'll be doing just fine too."

Shelby was terrified about meeting with Mira, she was convinced the second she told her she'd stepped into the path of a speeding car she'd be admitted to the hospital and her children would be taken away, "you must be Shelby" a dark haired woman just a little older than herself smiled warmly as she entered the room, her hand outstretched for Shelby to shake, "I'm Mira, come in and take a seat."

Shelby shook the offered hand, "where would you like me to sit?" She looked at the various seating options.

"Wherever you like, wherever you'd feel most comfortable." There was a stereotypical therapists couch, two chairs either side of a desk and a a floral sofa by the door, but Shelby settled herself in a soft leather arm chair facing out of the window, "do you mind if I sit here?" Mira asked gesturing to the second leather chair opposite Shelby and slightly to the left so it wasn't blocking Shelby's view of the gardens. Shelby shook her head and Mira sat down, "some clients find it easier to talk if we can't make eye contact." Mira explained, "if you want to move, or if you'd like me to move at any point in the session then feel free." Shelby nodded again. "So" Mira flipped open her note book, "you've got 4 week old twins?"

"Yeah" Shelby said quietly, "Annie and Nate."

"And two older children?"

"Rachel and Beth."

Mira smiled and nodded, "do you want to tell me about them?"

Shelby shrugged, "what do you want to know?"

"Anything, what do you want to tell me?"

"Rachel, she's my eldest, I was a surrogate for two gay men, her fathers, I signed a contract that I wouldn't contact her until she turned 18 unless she came to me. I tricked her into contacting me and then decided she didn't really need a mother and I left. We only really started to build our relationship once she'd graduated. She had the lead in a Broadway play but she told me yesterday she'd quit to spend more time in Lima to help me out. Beth, she's, she's so cheeky and full of life." Shelby felt her eyes fill with tears and Mira was quick to pass her a box of tissues, "she sees the best in everything. I adopted her, my partner Noah, fathered her when he was 16, but her biological mother didn't feel able to bring her up so I adopted her. I was hurting after things didn't go to plan with Rachel and I thought having a baby to make a clean start with would help. I guess it did in a way but not as much as I hoped. But if it wasn't for Beth I'm almost certain I wouldn't be in a relationship with Noah right now, and it was Noah that helped Rachel and I bond, so had I not adopted Beth I wouldn't have Noah or Rachel and if I didn't have Noah I wouldn't have Annie and Nate."

Mira nodded and scribbled something in her notebook, "Dr Stevens told me about something you'd told him. Something that happened yesterday, can you tell me about that?"

Shelby sighed, she'd known it was coming but she still didn't know how to answer, "I, I don't know. I was at home and I just felt like they'd all be better without me. I didn't go out with the intention to end my life" she clarified, "I needed some air, I felt like I was suffocating in the house, so I went out, but then I saw the car and, I don't know, I just stepped out into the road."

"Okay. And are you still feeling suicidal?"

Shelby shook her head, "no. I couldn't, I couldn't do it to my children, Beth came looking for me this morning, it was 4am and she was looking for me because she missed me and she wanted to cuddle. I hurt Rachel by walking away when she was 16, I couldn't hurt her again and I couldn't break Beth's heart. It doesn't matter how I feel, all that matters is that my babies are happy. I won't be the one to take that happiness away from them."

"It's good that you have a reason to fight this" Mira nodded, "but you're wrong when you say that how you feel doesn't matter because it does. How do you think your children would feel if they knew you were hurting yourself, mentally or physically, just to make them happy?"

"Beth wants everyone to be happy, and Rachel, she's, I don't know, she's amazing, she's a beautiful young woman. I hate that I missed out on so much of her life, I hate that I've got 4 amazing, beautiful children, but since the twins have been born, all I've wanted is to be Rachel."

Mira smiled sadly, "do you think having Annie and Nate has reminded you what you missed with Rachel?"

Shelby shook her head, "I didn't, I don't need reminding. I remember every day."

Shelby and Mira spoke about Shelby's family and her conflicting feelings for almost an hour, "I think some level of confusion is to be expected" Mira announced, "in a way this is your first experience of becoming a mother, I mean, when you had Rachel, your body was able to recover from the birth in it's own time without the demands of a newborn, when you had Beth, you had the demands of a new baby but you didn't have the physical stresses of giving birth to get over, your hormones weren't doing crazy things, you were able to focus everything on Beth, but now your body is telling you to take time for yourself to recover but your heart wants you to throw everything into being a Mommy."

Shelby shook her head, "I'm not a Mommy, I'm a Momma" she corrected, "Beth's never called me Mommy, I've always been Momma, and sometimes when she's spent a lot of time with Rachel I'm just Mom."

"I'll make a note" Mira smiled, "but for what it's worth, I think you're an amazing Momma. I do think Dr Stevens was right when he diagnosed postnatal depression, so I'm going to prescribe you a mild anti depressant, you need to take one a day, first thing in the morning. I'm also going to schedule you in some more appointments. Obviously we'll have some one to one appointments, but I think it would be beneficial for us to schedule some appointments for you to attend with Noah and some for you and Rachel. This is nothing to be ashamed of, it takes a lot of strength and courage to seek out help. You're not a lost cause, a bad mother, a failure, or any of the other things you might be thinking you are. You're a new Momma. It's okay to be confused or scared."

Shelby nodded, "how often will I be seeing you?"

"That's up to you" Mira smiled again, "it depends how you want to do your sessions with Noah and Rachel, I'd like to see you for an hour a week to begin with, then we can decide after a couple of weeks if we need to make them more or less often. We can either schedule in an extra session each week for Rachel or Noah, or we can make your sessions one and a half hours long and ask them to sit in for the first or last half an hour."

"I think two separate appointments would be best."

"Okay" Mira stood from the arm chair and walked over to her desk, "lets see when we can fit you in."

Shelby sighed as she stepped into the corridor, she'd only been in there for a little over an hour but she already felt so much better, her heart felt lighter and her head higher, all for sharing things with someone. It had been years since she'd last had a therapy session and she already regretted leaving it this long. All she had to do now was talk to Noah, and that was the conversation she feared the most.


	29. Chapter 29

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Annie and Nate (the twins) Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah), Bruno the dog & occasionally Rachel.

**A/N** - So I'm going back to longer updates once a week, and I know I'm putting myself at risk by saying this, but I'm sort of thinking about bringing this fic to an end in the not too distant future. There may be a sequel, or I may just take a break for a while and come back to this after a time jump or I might have a sudden burst of inspiration and carry on, I don't know.

I'll stop rambling and get on with the show.

* * *

><p>"<em>If I had just one wish, only one demand. I hope you're not like me, I hope you understand that you can take this life and hold it by the hand. And you can greet the world with arms wide open... With arms wide open, under the sunlight. Welcome to this place I'll show you everything, with arms wide open. Now everything has changed, I'll show you love, I'll show you everything, with arms wide open<em>" Shelby stood in the doorway to the master bedroom, watching as Noah laid on the bed, Annie laid on the left side of his chest, Nate on the right, singing softly to them both, empty bottles laid on the bed beside him and she could tell that her babies were struggling to stay awake.

"Do you want me to take one?" Shelby made her presence known as she stepped into the room.

"Sure" Noah smiled, holding his arms open so Shelby could take a baby from him, "take your pick."

"Give me my boy" she smiled, it was a long running joke, both Shelby and Noah loved all of their children, but they always joked that Annie was Noah's daughter and Nate was Shelby's son. Noah smiled as Shelby lifted Nate into her arms and he instantly began to nuzzle at her chest, "you can't be hungry" she cooed softly, "you've just had a bottle."

Noah grinned, "maybe he's my son and not yours" he winked, "he just wants to see some boob."

Shelby laughed as she slipped the strap of her vest top down and allowed Nate to feed again, "he's definitely your son" she told Noah, "he won't take a dummy but he's happy to use me as an alternative, he's not really feeding." She moved him away and Nate immediately began to whine, "okay, okay" she moved him back, "be like your father."

She sat on the bed beside Noah, and soon found herself laid against him, her head on his chest and his arm around her shoulder, Annie had long since fallen asleep but Nate was still half awake, "looks like he's going to be the difficult one" Noah nodded at Nate, "or that Annie's going to be the better sleeper."

"He's dropping off now" Shelby told him as she watched Nate's eyes flutter closed, "I'll just give him a minute to make sure he's properly gone before I put him down."

Noah nodded, "I'm going to wait a few more minutes before I put Annie down, just because I like holding her" he laughed.

Shelby smiled, "well, there's that too of course." They were silent for a moment before Shelby spoke again, "Sometimes" Shelby admitted, "I just want to take them away and curl up with them somewhere on my own where nobody can find us, but then there are times when I feel like I can't stand being near them but at the same time I don't want anyone else to have them either."

"Oh Shel" Noah sighed and kissed her head, "I wish you'd said something. I, I'm, I don't know what I'd have done, but I, I still wish you'd tell me."

Shelby sighed, "if we can get these two down Rachel said she'd stay up here and keep an eye on them so we can talk downstairs." They managed to lay the twins in their Moses baskets without waking them, and they walked downstairs hand in hand, greeting Bruno as he met them at the bottom of the stairs and followed them to the sofa where he settled himself at Shelby's feet. "I saw Dr Stevens today" Shelby told Noah once they were settled, "like you know, he erm, he arranged for me to see a therapist. They, they both agreed that I, I've got postnatal depression."

Noah nodded and kissed Shelby's head, "Mom, she said last night that she thought that's probably what it was."

"The therapist prescribed anti depressants, and I've got another two appointments with the therapist next week, she erm, she suggested that you came along to one of them, and Rachel the week after."

"I'm good with that" Noah smiled, he'd do anything to see Shelby happy again.

"There's something I should tell you Noah, I've not told Rachel yet, I will, I will some time but not yet, so please, you can't tell her. I told Dr Stevens and the therapist but Noah, you can't tell Rachel."

"Shel, you're worrying me."

"I, I stepped out in front of a car, when I left yesterday." She dipped her head, unable to look Noah in the eye.

"Oh Shel" he pulled her onto his lap and held her tightly, partly to comfort her and partly to hide the tears that had formed in his eyes, "you should have called me, I should have said something. I'd noticed you've been distant lately but I just thought you were tired, none of us have been sleeping well. I should have said something, I should have been there."

"It's not your fault Noah" Shelby told him, "there, there's so much love in this house, being here with you and Beth and our family, I feel more loved than I've ever felt before, and the fact that Rachel is a part of that, sometimes it's so overwhelming Noah, I'm over 40 years old and I don't know how to react to being loved."

"Well" Noah kissed her temple, "it's about time you learned how to let us all love you, and you can start by letting us all be here to help you with whatever you need, we all love you Shelby and we want to be here for you, but you need to open up to us, you need to let us in and tell us what you need. Promise me, promise me that you'll never leave like you did yesterday. I was so scared, I was terrified when Han rang me to say you were missing, I didn't know what to do, I wanted to be at home to hold you if you came back but at the same time I wanted to be everywhere I could think of looking for you, and babe, please, promise me, promise me that if you ever even think of hurting yourself again tell someone, find one of our babies to cuddle, cry with Rachel, call my Mom. I'd love for you to come to me, but if you don't think you can tell me, please, speak to any of us. I, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you Shelby. I love you and I'm so sorry if I've ever done anything that made you doubt that."

"It's" Shelby shook her head, "you haven't, I just struggle sometimes to see why you'd want to be with me, apart from the children of course."

"Shelby" 'he sighed as he laid his forehead against her head, "I want to be with you because I love you and you are amazing, you're so, so beautiful, inside and out."

"I'm not" she interrupted, "I'm fat, and I..."

"Hey" he batted his hands away from where she was pinching at her stomach, "you're not fat, you've got curves, you're a real woman, this" he placed his hands on her stomach, it was true, she was bigger than when he'd first met her but it had only been four weeks since she'd given birth to twins, "this only reminds me of how much you sacrificed for us to have a bigger family, if anything it makes me love you more, and Shel, I'd still love you if you put on another 200 pounds, there'd just be more of you to love." He took a deep breath, "everyone, everyone told me I'd screwed up when Quinn got pregnant, they told me they couldn't believe how stupid I'd been to make such a huge mistake, but then I look at you and I look at everything we've got and I can't understand how this could all be a mistake. I don't see how screwing up my life could ever lead to me being so happy, because being with you makes me happier than I ever thought I'd be. I don't care what anyone else says Shelby, being with you makes me happy, and I like to think that I make you happy too, and as long as we're happy, and the kids are happy, nothing else matters."

Shelby nodded, "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too" Noah smiled, "and I'm going to do whatever I can to see you smile more often. I've extended my paternity leave, I said I'd go back when the babies are three months old, but if you think you need me to stay home longer he's happy to extend it further, I know things might be tight financially, but I'd rather we had nothing but our health and we were all happy, than for us to have a million expensive things and all cry ourselves to sleep at night."

Shelby nodded, "I've been thinking about this for a while" she said quietly, "and I think I want to get a hysterectomy, I love you and I love my children but I don't think I could do this again Noah, I don't think I could physically have another baby, and while I don't feel ready to start having sex again yet, I think I'll always worry that we could be caught out again until I know for sure it's not at all possible."

Noah shook his head, "no, I mean, I've looked into it too. I, I hated seeing you in so much pain when you were pregnant, I hated seeing you constantly worried about the twins. It's much easier if I have a vasectomy."

"No" Shelby gasped, "you can't do that."

"Why not?" Noah was confused, "if you have whatever done, it's a serious medical procedure Shelby, they have to knock you out and you'll be in hospital for at least a week, and then you'll still be recovering for a while after that. If I get a vasectomy it can be done with a local anaesthetic, and granted the little guy will probably be a little sore for a while, but I can be in and out the same day."

"Noah" Shelby whispered, "you can't, what if, what if something happens and one day you want to have children with someone else? I know that I don't want, that I can't have any more biological children. You, you..."

"I don't want to be the father of any children that you aren't the mother to Shelby, I don't know what I can do to make you realise that I mean that but I do Shel. I don't want to have a million children with a million different women. The only children I ever want to have are yours, apart from Rachel because that'd just be weird."

Shelby laughed slightly, "it's a big thing for you to do Noah."

"Let's call it repayment for you carrying the twins."

"I'm not saying that I want you to do it Noah, I'm, let's just look into things and then make a decision okay?"

"Yeah" Noah nodded, lowering his head to rest on Shelby's shoulder, "okay."

Whilst Shelby and Noah were talking, Rachel was laid on her bed reading a book, "Rachel" Beth whispered softly as she walked into the room, "where's Momma?"

"She's downstairs talking to Daddy" she noticed Beth looked paler than usual, "are you okay Bee?"

Beth shook her head, "my tummy hurts" tears began to roll down Beth's face, "I want Momma and Daddy."

"Okay darling, okay" Rachel lifted Beth onto the bed and pulled the covers around her before kissing her head, noticing that she was slightly warmer than usual, "you stay right here and I'll go fetch them. She watched for a moment as Beth curled herself tightly into a ball, still sobbing into the pillows before walking down the stairs and tapping lightly on the living room door before opening it, "I'm sorry to interrupt you both" she found Shelby still sat on Noah's lap on the sofa, "I know I said I'd watch the kids tonight so you could have some time alone together, but Beth's woken up, she says she's got stomach ache and she wants you both. She's in my bed."

Shelby flew out of the room with Rachel and Noah right behind her, "Momma" Beth sobbed as Shelby opened the door to Rachel's room to find Beth stood by the bed, "I was sick in Rachel's bed Momma, I'm sorry."

"Hey" Shelby scooped Beth into her arms, "it's okay, we can change the sheets, calm down baby, take some deep breaths" Shelby sat on the edge of the bed, mindful of the vomit by the pillow.

"I'll go get some clean sheets" Rachel smiled at Beth, "it's not a problem Bee, we all get sick, we'll wash the sheets and it'll be like it never happened, don't get upset about it."

Noah rubbed Beth's back and kissed her hair, "I'll go get you a glass of water" he looked at Shelby, "and a bowl."

Shelby nodded, "Beth and I are going to have a bath, we'll get you all cleaned up" she kissed Beth's hair, "and see if it makes you feel better."

"Momma" Beth groaned as she laid, chest to chest, with Shelby in the bath, "it hurts."

"I know darling I know" she brushed Beth's hair back from her face before glancing to Noah who was sat on the closed toilet seat, holding onto the bowl Beth had been sick in several times already, "can you call your Mom? Ask her to come and check Beth over, she's burning up." Noah nodded and left the room, "It's okay" Shelby whispered to Beth, Bubbe's going to come over and take a look at you."

"Where does it hurt Beth?" Sarah asked as Beth laid on Rachel's bed with Shelby, she gestured to her stomach as the thermometer Shelby held in her ear beeped.

"102.2" Shelby told Sarah as the older woman pushed on different parts of Beth's stomach.

Sarah nodded, "I think she'll be just fine, we've had a couple of kids in this week with a stomach virus and I'm pretty sure that's what Beth's got." She stroked Beth's hair as she curled into a ball on the bed, "keep an eye on her though, if her temperature rises above 103, 104, or the pain seems to settle about here" she gestured to the lower right of her own abdomen, "or she starts complaining of neck ache or she can't look at light, anything that worries you at all, call me again or take her to the ER, it doesn't matter what time of day it is, if you're worried by anything, call me. Have you got anything to bring her temperature down?"

Shelby shook her head, "I'll go get something from the late night pharmacy" Noah told both women before kissing Shelby, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

He bumped into Rachel at the top of the stairs and she tapped on her bedroom door a couple of minutes later before pushing it open slowly, "Noah said he'd gone to get something to bring Beth's temperature down, I thought this might help for the time being." She passed Sarah the damp wash cloth and Sarah laid it on her granddaughter's warm forehead.

"Try to keep giving her small sips of clear fluid, lemonade or something might be better than water if you shake it until it's flat, but don't give her too much at once. We don't want her getting dehydrated, but too much in one go will probably make her sick again, if she goes more than 24 hours without keeping any fluids down then take her to the ER, but call me too, I'll come in with you. Fingers crossed it wont come to that though, but I'm going to warn you, you'll be lucky if she's only being sick, and you might want to keep her away from the twins, we don't want them to risk catching it."

Shelby nodded and looked to Rachel, "could you watch them for me? Do you think you'll be able to cope with them both?"

Rachel nodded, "sure, I was going to suggest you slept in here with Noah and Beth tonight anyway and I'll take your bed."

"Thank you sweetheart".

"It's no problem."

Sarah smiled, "If you feel like you need an extra pair of hands call me Rachel, even if it's 3am" she looked to Shelby, "you call me if you're worried about Beth" she looked to Rachel, "and you call me if you can't handle the twins."

Shelby and Rachel both nodded, "Thank you Sarah" Shelby smiled sadly, "thank you so much."

"Hey" Sarah smiled, "don't worry about it, we're family, it's what we do."

"But even so."

Sarah shook her head, "But nothing, if you were a nurse and I was worried about Hannah being sick, I'm sure you'd do the same."

Noah arrived home just minutes after Sarah left, "I bought some pedialite too" Noah told Shelby as he walked back into the room taking the painkiller from the bottle, scanning the label and pouting a dose into the measuring cup "I didn't know what flavour she'd prefer so I got one of everything. The freezer pops are in the freezer."

Shelby nodded and took the medicine from Noah, helping Beth drink it, "she likes the strawberry one."

"Okay" Noah poured a small amount of the red liquid into the now empty glass of water that he'd taken Beth earlier, "drink it slowly baby." He wrapped his left arm around Beth's back to help her sit up before holding the glass up to her lips.

"I feel sick daddy" she groaned.

"Okay" Noah put the glass down and laid Beth down, "try and get some sleep baby, I'm just gonna go and get changed and I'll be right back."

Beth nodded as Shelby helped her under the covers, "come on darling" she pulled Beth to lay against her, "you'll feel better in the morning."

Shelby, Noah and Beth had a restless night, Shelby and Noah hated seeing their daughter ill even more than Beth hated being ill. Rachel on the other hand was surprised when Nate woke twice and Annie only woke once, at three am, for a feed and a cuddle before she fell asleep again and didn't wake til almost seven.

She sat rocking Annie, humming softly to the girl who was now wide awake and staring at her sister with wide eyes. Rachel loved how inquisitive Annie was, Nate needed to be kept entertained, he needed almost constant stimulation but Annie was quite content to sit back and take in her surroundings, it was like she needed to know every detail of everything around her. The two girls sat in almost silence for almost an hour before Annie had another bottle, just ten minutes before Nate woke. Rachel fed her brother before propping both twins up against the cushions and sitting in front of them. "You're so lucky" she told them both, "you've got a Momma and a Daddy who love you both so much, your Momma went through so much to have you, and I know she'll do nothing but the best by you. You're so lucky that you'll get to grow up with her."

"Hey" Shelby made her presence known as she leant against the door frame.

Rachel looked up, "Hi, is everything okay?"

Shelby nodded, "Beth and Noah are still asleep, Beth kicked me out of bed so I thought I's come and see how you were getting on with the twins."

Rachel smiled, "we're doing good, Annie's been awake almost half an hour but Nate's only been up about fifteen minutes."

Shelby smiled, "he sleeps like his father, dead to the world. Did they wake you up much?" she asked as she sat on the edge of the bed and lifted Annie into her arms as Rachel picked up Nate.

"Not really" she shook her head, "this little guy got me up just after midnight and then again about four, I fed Annie at eleven, she woke up at three and then she slept right through."

"Wow" Shelby was shocked, "we should get Rachel to watch you more often hey" she kissed Annie's head, "if it gets you sleeping through like that."

"How's Beth?" Rachel asked.

"She's not too bad, she's been asleep since two. She's been quite restless though. I'm going to go downstairs and call the school and then I was hoping you'd be okay with these two for a while so I can get my head down in Beth's bed for an hour or two."

Rachel nodded, "I'll be fine, I'll take these two over to my fathers' house or something, you can sleep in your own bed and we're all out of the way."

"Are you sure you don't mind?"

Rachel shook her head, "neither of my dads are working this week, they'd love to fuss over these two."

Shelby smiled and leant over to kiss Rachel's cheek, "thank you."

Rachel smiled too, "it's okay, I really don't mind."

Shelby smiled again, "it suits you" she nodded to where Rachel held Nate on her lap, "you with a baby."

Rachel laughed, "thanks. They do make me a little broody sometimes, but it's not going to happen for a while yet."

Shelby laughed, "I have to say I'm glad to hear it. As much as I know that, one day, you'll make some baby an amazing mother, I'd like at the very least for my youngest to be in kindergarten before you make me a Nanna."

Rachel raised an eyebrow, "you mean you wouldn't want to be Bubbe?"

Shelby shook her head, "can you really see Sarah giving that up without a fight? She's going to be your children's Bubbe too, you won't have a choice in the matter."

Rachel laughed, "I'm sure I won't."

"But seriously, please let me get my children into kindergarten before you start giving me grandbabies."

Rachel smiled and nodded, "I think I can agree to that."


	30. Chapter 30

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Annie and Nate (the twins) Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah), Bruno the dog & occasionally Rachel.

**A/N** - Sorry for the delay, I had an accident involving a weak knee joint and a flight of stairs so I've not really been able to get my writing head on. That and this chapter did not want to be written! I've had the next chapter written for a while though so it should (hopefully) be back to the usual standards.

I've had a couple of pm's about this fic ending. In my head I'm aiming for 50 chapters, whether that will happen or not, who knows. I've had a short (5-6ish part) idea for a sequel that's half written on my laptop, and a couple of Shelby/Rachel one shots that I've started but not finished which I might get round to after this ends, but yes, even I don't know what's going to happen yet

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><p>"Shelby" Hannah was surprised to find Shelby, Rachel and Beth on the doorstep on Saturday afternoon, "what are you doing here?"<p>

"Someone's got a hot date" she teased, "I promised we'd help you get ready and Beth wanted to come too."

"I didn't, I thought with Beth being sick..."

"I'm better now" Beth told Hannah, "and we're gonna make you look real pretty"

It had been a long time since Shelby had had so much fun. She curled Hannah's long dark hair whilst Rachel did her make up and Beth pulled random items of clothing from the wardrobe. It took almost an hour before Hannah was deemed ready to go, "I look amazing" she stood in front of the full length mirror, "you've made me look like a princess" she wrapped her arms first around Shelby, then Rachel and finally Beth, "thank you, thank you so much."

"Hey" Rachel smiled, "we had something good to start with, don't put yourself down."

Shelby grinned as the doorbell rang, "go get your girl" she smiled.

"Hey" Hannah smiled and blushed as she opened the door, "do you want to come in for a minute?" Beth reached for Shelby's hand as the tall cheerleader walked into the hall, she had long dark hair, tanned skin and legs that seemed to go on forever, both Shelby and Rachel could understand why Hannah thought she was attractive, "this is my sister Shelby, and her daughters Rachel and Beth. Shelby, Rachel, Bee, this is Kyra."

Shelby was surprised to be introduced as Hannah's sister and not her sister in law, brother's girlfriend or anything else, "hi" she greeted the girl, holding out her hand which was shaken firmly, "I should probably give you the 'protective older sibling' speech right about now, but I promised Han I wouldn't embarrass her and I know her brother will do it so much better than I ever could. So we're going to go now" she bent over and kissed Hannah's cheek, "have a great night you two" she leant in to whisper in Hannah's ear, "call me when you're home so I know you got back safely." Whenever Sarah was on a night shift and Hannah went out, she always had to call Noah or Shelby when she got back in so they knew she was okay, she wanted to tell Hannah to be safe but she knew the teens would only take it the wrong way.

They said their goodbyes and were halfway out the door when Beth ran back inside and tugged on Kyra's hand, "she likes to snuggle" Beth told her, "but you have to be nice to her cos I'll be sad and my daddy will get real mad if you make her cry."

Kyra crouched down so she was level with Beth, "I promise you Beth that I'll do everything I can to make her happy and if I make her cry I'll be sad and angry at me too." Kyra held out her right hand, pinky outstretched, "I pinky promise I'll take care of her."

Beth smiled, in her mind pinky promises were sacred, and she linked her pinky with Kyra's, "if you're nice to her then you can be my friend. You're real pretty."

"You're real pretty too" Kyra told Beth, "like your Momma and your sister."

"And Hannah?"

"Of course and Hannah."

Beth grinned, "I love you Han, and I like you" she told Kyra, smiling at the two girls before skipping down the drive to catch up with Rachel and Shelby.

"I'm home" Hannah called Shelby a little after 10.30 that night.

Shelby smiled and curled her legs under herself, "and how did it go?"

"Oh" Hannah smiled, "it was amazing, she took me for a picnic by the lake and then we went bowling."

Shelby could almost hear Hannah smiling down the phone, "so is there going to be a second date?"

"Yeah. Next weekend" Hannah grinned.

"I'm glad you had a good time" Shelby said truthfully.

"Is that Han?" Noah asked as he walked back into the room after settling Nate. Shelby nodded, "let me speak to her."

Shelby nodded, "Noah wants to speak to you" she told Hannah, "pop over tomorrow if you're not busy, tell me all the details."

"I will" Hannah promised.

"Good, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite and don't answer the door to anyone."

"I won't" Hannah laughed knowing Noah would tell her exactly the same thing, "I'll see you tomorrow" she said before Shelby handed the phone over to Noah.

"How was it?" he asked.

"It was good" Hannah didn't really want to share any details with her older brother.

"Did she look after you?"

"I can look after myself Noah."

"You know what I mean Han" he spoke softly, "she didn't force you into anything?"

"No Noah" Shelby rolled her eyes, "if she wasn't a female she'd have been the perfect gentleman."

"Glad to hear it, are you seeing her again?"

"Next weekend."

"Right" Noah nodded, "and do you think you'll be getting" he took a deep breath, "serious?"

"Noah" Hannah scolded.

"Look, I just want to have a word with her, and I want to do it sooner rather than later."

"Don't, don't mess this up for me Noah."

"I won't Han. You deserve to be happy, I want to be sure that this girl knows that."

Hannah sighed, she knew she wouldn't talk Noah out of having the 'don't hurt my sister' conversation with Kyra, "okay Noah."

"Okay, now you have a good night, make sure the doors locked and don't answer it to anyone, if I need to come over I'll call you first."

"Okay Noah, good night."

"Night Han, Love you."

The weekend passed quickly and almost before Shelby had chance to take a breath it was Monday morning and time for her therapists appointment with Noah. "Shelby, come in, take a seat." She held out her hand to Noah, "and you must be Noah, come in, make yourself comfortable."

This time Shelby chose to sit on the sofa and Noah sat close beside her, slipping his arm around her waist before kissing her head softly, Mira could tell just from looking at Noah that he was head over heels in love with Shelby and she was positive that he'd do anything to help Shelby get over her depression. "I just want you to know Shelby" Mira began as she took a seat opposite the couple, "that anything you say in your one on one sessions will be kept in there unless you say otherwise. I will only tell Noah, or Rachel, what you've said in those sessions if you ask me to."

"No" Shelby shook her head, "I, I don't want there to be any secrets, can, can we work the other way and I'll tell you if there's anything I don't want bringing up. I don't mind them knowing."

Mira nodded, "okay. But if you change your mind all you have to do is say so." Shelby nodded and Mira opened her notebook, "Okay, so in your last session you mentioned that you feel like your relationship with Noah isn't as strong as it was before you had the twins. Why don't you tell Noah and myself why you feel that way and then Noah can tell you how he feels."

Shelby nodded, "I feel like we hardly spend any time together any more. I know it's not true but sometimes it's almost as if now you've got the babies you wanted, you don't need me any more and there are times when I feel guilty about how much time I'm spending with Rachel and how little time I spend with you."

"I do want you Shel, I love my children, I do, but I love you too. My family isn't complete if you're not a part of it. I'm sorry if I've been a bit distant lately but I guess we've all been trying to adjust to having Annie and Nate around, I was giving you time to get used to them, I'm sorry if you ever thought I was pushing you away Shel, and as for the time you're spending with Rachel, don't worry about it."

"But I do Noah, I do worry about it, and then I worry that it doesn't seem to bother you as much as it bothers me."

"It doesn't bother me" Noah reached out and took Shelby's hand in his, "because I know Rachel is your daughter, I know that whatever happens she's always going to come first to you and I know that there's going to come a time, in days, weeks, months, whatever, Rachel's going to go back to New York and you want to make the most of the time you have with her. I know that she's not always going to be around but I am. I'm not going to get angry with you for spending time with your daughter Shel, just like I hope you'd never be angry with me for spending time with Beth, Annie or Nate."

Shelby shook her head, "never."

"And I know Rachel means just as much, if not more, to you than our babies do, and I get that you want to spend time together now to make up for lost time or whatever." He shrugged, "but I really don't mind how much time you spend with Rachel Shel, she's family." He took a deep breath and tried to get his thoughts in order as his thumb stroked the back of her hand, "she's my friend and your daughter, and lets be honest, having someone else around who's willing to change dirty diapers can only be a good thing."

Even Mira laughed, "I've had five children Shelby and I have to admit, Noah's right, having someone else willing to change the dirty diapers can only ever be a good thing." She smiled at the couple, "what you're both feeling is completely normal for new parents, you felt like it was a lot easier to spend time together before the twins were born right?" Shelby and Noah nodded, "so try and make the effort, once a week if you can, once a month at the very least, take advantage of Rachel, let her look after the siblings she so obviously adores, ask her to take them all for a walk in the park so the two of you can have some time together as 'Shelby and Noah' instead of 'Momma and Daddy."

Noah nodded, "we could ask my Mom if she'd watch them for us one night, ask Rachel to spend the night with her dads and we could have a date night."

Mira smiled, "that sounds like a great idea."

"Yeah" Shelby nodded slowly, "I'd like that, some time together, just us." Noah nodded, he was going to give Shelby the best date night ever, and he knew exactly what he could do to make it special.


	31. Chapter 31

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Annie and Nate (the twins) Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah), Bruno the dog & occasionally Rachel.

**A/N** - Here's date night. I hope it doesn't disappoint, I've been looking forward to this for a while!

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><p>"Happy Date Day" Noah smiled at Shelby as she woke beside him, and he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before he kissed her softly.<p>

"Happy Date Day" she smiled back sleepily, "are you going to tell me what you've got planned yet?"

"Nope" Noah shook his head, "but I will tell you that I've got a baby sitter for the twins today, I've got a couple of things I need to do before tonight and you and Rach are going to a spa for the day, you're having a facial and a manipedi, I've got no idea what that is but Rachel said you'll like it" Noah shrugged, "she booked it and I just got to pay" he smiled.

Shelby smiled too, "thanks".

Noah kissed her again, "as long as you have a good day." Shelby didn't have time to reply before Nate began to whine in his Moses basket, the twins had both been awake for a while and Nate's patience had obviously worn out, "he'll want changing I'll go."

Shelby nodded, "I'll see if Annie will feed, then I can feed Nate when you've changed him."

"I've been thinking" Noah announced as he carried Nate back into the room, bouncing him on the bed to try and keep him settled until Shelby had finished feeding Annie.

"Don't hurt yourself" Shelby joked.

"Now the twins are sleeping better, I thought we could maybe move them into their nursery. We might struggle to get regular date nights but if we put them in the nursery we could have an hour or so to ourselves every night without worrying too much that we're going to wake them up. We used to talk in bed all the time but we don't seem to do it any more."

Shelby nodded, it was true, she and Noah used to talk about everything as they laid together last thing at night, but now she was so tired sometimes all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and close her eyes. "Yeah" she agreed finally, "I guess we could."

"If you'd rather keep them in here we can do that Shel, it was only a suggestion."

Shelby shook her head, "No, I, it's silly but while they're in here they're still my babies, if we put them in on their own I guess I have to admit that they're already growing up. They're not even six weeks old yet, I, they're my last babies Noah, I don't want them to grow up."

"Hey" he wiped at her tears "like you said, they're not even six weeks old, that leaves like seventeen years and forty six weeks before we have to worry about them moving out, and to be honest I'm already looking forward to them both being potty trained" he cracked a smile, and I'm kinda looking forward to getting to know them, y'know, finding out what they're like but we don't have to do anything you or the babies aren't ready for, I mean we could try it and then bring them back if you're not ready, or we could keep them in here until they outgrow their Moses baskets, which, in Annie's case, could be when she's thirty."

Shelby smiled, she's not small, she's going to be petite like Rach."

"She's going to be beautiful like you" Noah said sincerely as he took Annie from Shelby and passed Nate over.

Shelby shook her head, "No, Annie's you, she's not me. She'll look like Han and your Mom."

"Poor kid" Noah mumbled.

"So what should I wear tonight?" Shelby tried once again to get some information about their date from Noah.

"Don't worry about it" he glanced at the clock, "I've got it all sorted, and now" he stood from the bed leaving Annie laid beside Shelby, "I'm going to go and get Bee up and dressed."

"Who's watching the twins?" Shelby asked Rachel as she drove them both towards the spa, she knew Sarah was at work and Noah said he had some things to do before their date.

Rachel shook her head but didn't take her eyes off the road, "Annie and Nate are currently being spoiled rotten by both my dad and my daddy. Sarah finishes work at 2, she'll pick Beth up from school on her way home from work, then she'll pick up the twins and I'm going over to help her out straight after I drop you off."

"Do you know what Noah's got planned?"

Rachel nodded, "but I've been sworn to secrecy, so stop asking questions you know I can't answer and just enjoy your day."

By the time Rachel and Shelby returned, Shelby felt thoroughly relaxed. She'd had the facial and the manicure and pedicure Noah had paid for, but she'd also enjoyed a leisurely swim in the spa's heated pool, almost an hour relaxing in the jacuzzi with Rachel, and a full body massage that Rachel had treated her to. "Hey" Noah walked out of the kitchen, closing the door firmly behind himself, "good day?"

He kissed Shelby's cheek and she nodded, "great day thanks."

Rachel smiled at the interaction, Shelby did seem a lot happier and Rachel was glad, she knew what Noah had planned for the rest of the night and she only hoped that it would only make Shelby happier, "I'm just going to go grab my bag from upstairs then I'll be out of your hair".

She only got up the first three steps before Noah called her name, "Beth's left her bear, he's on her bed, would you mind taking him over with you?" Rachel nodded and continued up the stairs before Noah turned to Shelby, "why don't you go upstairs, take a shower, get changed, do whatever and meet me down here in an hour or so?"

"What should I wear?"

Noah laughed at the question he'd already heard so may times, "go upstairs, I'm sure you'll find something."

Shelby sighed and shook her head, mumbling to herself as she walked up the stairs. She gasped as she opened the bedroom door to find a dark blue, halter neck, evening gown laid out on the bed, a note in Noah's handwriting laid on top _'stop worrying about everything. I've got it all under control, just trust me'. _She took a shower and curled her hair, allowing it to fall loosely around her shoulders before she changed into the dress. It fitted her perfectly yet still managed to hide the parts of her body she felt self conscious about. It fitted well over her breasts, something she knew Noah would like, but the fabric barely skimmed her stomach, hiding the baby weight only she noticed. She stood in front of the full length mirror admiring her reflection and allowing the fabric to swish around her ankles. She took one last look at her reflection before sitting down at her dresser and applying her make up.

She met Noah at the bottom of the stairs and was surprised to find he'd changed into a suit she didn't even know he owned, "wow" she gasped, "you look amazing."

"So do you" he took her in his arms and kissed her, "you like the dress?"

"I love it."

Noah smiled, "I'll be honest, Rachel was a big help, she picked a couple out and I made the final decision."

"You made a great decision" she told him as she pulled away from him, "but I don't know which shoes to wear" she held out a pair of black stilettos in her left hand and some strappy, silver, heeled sandals in her right.

"You won't need shoes where we're going."

Shelby was confused, "what, I.."

"Look" Noah took the shoes from Shelby and set them on the bottom step, "I know you're worried about spending the night away from the kids, and all the half decent places to eat are the other side of Lima, so I found somewhere where we could have a romantic night but still be close by in case something happens, or you miss the twins too much."

Shelby was still puzzled, "so where are we going?"

"Come with me." Noah took Shelby's hand in her own and lead her down the hall and into the kitchen.

"Noah" she gasped, "I, I.." she was speechless. The kitchen would have been dark had it not been for the, seemingly hundreds of lanterns that covered the sideboards, illuminating the room, there was something that smelt amazing cooking in the oven and soft music played from the ipod dock in the corner. "Noah."

"If we can't go to the romantic restaurant, I thought we could bring the romantic restaurant here, that way all our babies are right around the corner and Mom's willing to bring them home later if you really want her to."

"I don't know what to say Noah."

"Well don't say anything" he smiled before leading her over to the table, causing her to gasp once again as she saw he'd laid it properly with a table cloth and fabric napkins, "just sit down, have a drink" he pulled a bottle from an ice bucket, "and relax. Your starter will be ready in a moment Madame".

"Noah, I can't..." she put her hand over the wine glass as Noah tried to pour her a glass of champagne.

"Don't panic" he showed her the label, "it's non-alcoholic, there's 'wine' later, that's got no alcohol in it either." Shelby smiled, he really had thought of everything.

"I'm impressed" Shelby smiled at the end of the meal, she'd been amazed at how good the food had tasted, they'd started with a home made mushroom soup, Shelby's favourite, before Noah had served up perfectly cooked Salmon in a filo parcel with rice and vegetables and then a desert of chocolate brownies with home made vanilla ice cream. Shelby couldn't eat another bite. "That was amazing."

They sat talking about nothing in particular for a while before Noah stood and cleared the last plates from the table, "dance with me?" he asked as the song changed. Shelby nodded and he helped her to her feet, holding her to his chest, singing softly as they swayed slowly around the kitchen. _'I don't know, but I believe,that some things are meant to be. And that you'll make a better me everyday I love you. I never thought that dreams came true but you showed me that they do, you know that I learn something new. Everyday I love you.' _ He pulled Shelby closer to him, his hands on her waist as they moved slowly together. It seemed like forever since they'd been this close, mentally as well as physically. _'Cause I believe that destiny is out of our control, and you've never lived until you've loved, with all your heart, and soul. It's a touch when I feel bad, it's a smile when I get mad. All the little things I am, everyday I love you.'_

Shelby was confused as Noah pulled away from her, the song hadn't finished but he said nothing. Shelby's hands flew to her mouth and she let out a shocked gasp as Noah dropped to one knee on the kitchen floor in front of her as he continued to sing. "_If I asked would you say yes? Together we're the very best, I know that I am truly blessed every day I love you"_

"I know you said we'd have to sit down and talk about this before it happens but I wanted to do something more romantic than call a family meeting. I've spoken to Rachel and seriously she was so excited she nearly deafened me. My ma and Han are happy for us and I don't think Bee would say no to having a nice new dress, and I just want to get to hold you every day for the rest of my life" He reached into his pocket for the velvet box, "Will you marry me Shelby?"

Shelby was speechless, "Noah, I" she felt tears run down her cheeks, "I'm sorry" she whispered, "I'm so sorry."

"Hey "Noah jumped to his feet and pushed the ring box back into his pocket, "I didn't mean to freak you out or upset you, I guess I just want to show you that I want to be with you forever but if you're not happy with the idea then that's absolutely fine, I'm happy to just be with you. I love you and wedding or no wedding that wont change."

Shelby wiped at her eyes, "I, I love you too" her breath hitched in her throat, "it's just a big step."

"I know, I'm kinda scared by how 'right' it feels though" he confessed, "not that I'm trying to pressure you into it or anything, I mean if you wanted to we could wait a few years, have a long engagement, whatever makes you happy."

"Noah" Shelby interrupted his rambling, "Noah, I, I ruined it, ask me again."

"You didn't ruin anything babe" he wiped at her eyes.

"Ask me again" Shelby repeated.

Noah smiled, "will you marry me?"

"No"

"No?" Noah couldn't understand why she'd made him ask her again just to reject him.

"No I mean ask me properly" she pointed to the floor, "you don't have to do the song again but if I'm going to get engaged for hopefully the only time in my life I want a proper proposal."

Noah thought his face would split from smiling so much, she was going to say yes. "Shelby" he fished the ring box out of his pocket and dropped back onto one knee. "I once thought I'd be in prison, dead or both by now but I'm not, I'm so much more Shelby and it's all because of you, I know how much I love you and I hope that you know just how much I love you. I've spoken to Rachel and she's given us her blessing, she told me she'd be happy for me to show the rest of the world just how much I love you, I want everyone to know how happy you make me. I love you so much Shelby" he opened the box and held it towards her, "I love you so much and I want everyone to know that. Will you" he swallowed hard and took a deep breath, "Will you marry me?"

For a moment Shelby thought about saying no to tease him but he looked so excited so she simply smiled and nodded before whispering "yes" she nodded again, "yes I will." Shelby had turned down several offers of marriage, she'd never in a million years expected the only time she'd say yes would be to a man half her age. The wind was knocked from her as Noah stood to his feet and wrapped her in a bone crushing hug, lifting her off her feet and spinning her round before bringing his lips to meet hers.

"I love you" he grinned once their lips finally parted and he laid his forehead against hers, his arms around her waist, her arms around his neck

Shelby couldn't help but smile, "I love you too."

Noah wiped at tears Shelby hadn't even realised had fallen from her eyes, "do you want this ring then or are we going to stand like this all night?"

Shelby laughed, "you can give me the ring and then we can cuddle some more."

They moved through to the living room a while later and Noah lit the fire they hardly ever used before sitting on the sofa and pulling Shelby onto his lap, kissing her softly as they watched the flames dance in the fireplace. "When did you ask Rachel if this was okay?" Shelby asked as she played with the ring on her finger.

"When I called her to let her know you'd had Annie and Nate. We talked about it last week too, I know it's tradition for the man to ask his partner's father for permission, but I know how you feel about your father so I asked Rach instead."

Shelby smiled and leant back into Noah, "thank you" she whispered softly, "thank you."

They sat in the darkness for a while, not saying anything, just enjoying each other's company. it was Noah that spoke first, "I know it might be a bit soon to be asking, but have you thought about when you want to get married?" Noah asked, "It's just, I mean my sister's had her dream wedding planned out since she was old enough to put a net curtain over her face and stagger down the hall in a bed sheet and Ma's heels."

Shelby laughed at the thought of Hannah playing weddings, "I don't know, I think I'd like to wait a while, maybe til Annie and Nate are old enough to understand what's going on and take part."

Noah nodded, "Annie could be your little flower girl" he smiled, "and the shop I got the ring from had a wedding display in the window, there was a little cushion for the rings, Nate could carry that and we could look all badass in our matching suits, me and my boy." He paused for a minute, "I'm getting too into this aren't I?"

Shelby nodded, "maybe a little bit" she smiled, "but I'm glad you're excited about it. Don't be thinking too big though, I, I think I'd rather have something quite small and intimate."

"So you'll not be wanting a $20,000 dress and 50 bridesmaids?"

"Three bridesmaids" Shelby told him, "Rachel, Hannah and Beth. Annie will probably be a flower girl like you said. And just because I only want a small wedding doesn't mean I won't want a million dollar dress."

Noah smiled and kissed Shelby's neck, "it's a good job I've been saving then isn't it?"

Shelby was shocked, "you've been saving? For our wedding?"

Noah shrugged, "For anything, for a rainy day, although I hope it isn't a rainy day."

"Spring" Shelby whispered, "I think I'd like to get married in the spring. Not this coming spring, maybe the spring after when Annie and Nate will be almost two" she thought for a moment, "or is that too long? I mean, when do you want to get married?"

"Hmm" Noah only pretended to think, "I thought maybe the spring after next when the twins are almost two."

"Noah" Shelby groaned, "I'm being serious."

"So am I babe, I want to get married whenever you feel ready, this ring" he took her left hand in his, "this engagement, my proposal, none of it came with a time limit. You could tell me you wanted to wait til Annie and Nate had graduated high school and I'd wait for you."

"I don't want to wait that long Noah, I, I want to be your wife."

Noah grinned, he couldn't wait for the day when he could introduce her as 'Shelby Puckerman, my wife'. "And I want to be your husband" he told her with a kiss.

Shelby smiled, Noah had given her everything, he'd given her Beth, he'd given her the opportunity to build a relationship with Rachel and he'd given her two beautiful babies that she'd only ever been able to dream about. The least she could do was give him the rest of her life.


	32. Chapter 32

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Annie and Nate (the twins) Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah), Bruno the dog & occasionally Rachel.

**A/N** -I was planning a chapter very similar to this already, but then someone left a review asking for what I'd sort of planned to write, so I changed it slightly. I hope you like it!

Also, I'm sort of running out of ideas. I don't really want to end it here but I don't want the wedding here either, so if anyone has any ideas I'd be very grateful!

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><p>Noah had proposed on Friday night, and on Sunday afternoon everyone had descended on Shelby and Puck's house for an 'unofficial, family, engagement party'. Even Hiram and Leroy had turned up, and as Shelby watched the two men interact with all three of her children before Leroy went to talk to Noah and Hiram went to help Sarah and Rachel with dinner, she knew, as much as giving Rachel up had hurt her, she was glad she'd chosen Hiram and Leroy. They were amazing parents and it was obvious that the love they had for Rachel had now grown into love for Beth and the twins and she knew that all four of her children could only benefit from having the men in their lives.<p>

Shelby was sure she'd never get out of her chair again, she'd eaten so much, she was trying to loose the weight she'd put on when she was pregnant but Sarah, Hiram and Rachel had cooked such an amazing meal she just couldn't stop eating!

They'd moved into the living room, intending to all watch a movie together when Hiram and Leroy pulled her to one side, "we know it's a little early" Hiram began, "but Rachel's told us about your relationship with your parents, and we just wanted to say, I mean we understand completely if you don't want it, it's just a suggestion, you don't..."

"What Hiram is trying to say" Leroy interrupted his husband, "is if you don't want to walk down the aisle alone, we would both, singly or together, be honoured to offer you our arms."

Shelby felt her eyes fill with tears, "thank you" she whispered, "thank you both so much." It had been less than 48 hours since Noah had proposed, but the lack of a father figure in her life had worried her. She knew she could have walked down the aisle alone, but she liked the idea of having someone by her side. They both pulled her into a hug, "I, I'd be, yes, I'd love that" she finally managed to say with a smile.

Leroy smiled, "come on then, let's go see what musical delights Rachel has picked out for us to watch."

A cry came from upstairs and Shelby shook her head, "that's my cue to go feed my boy, I'll be back down in a minute."

True to her word Shelby returned to the room just minutes later with Nate settled at her breast. Hiram paled as he saw her feeding her son, "I, just, I, I, water" he mumbled before grabbing his glass and leaving the room.

"Boobs freak him out" Leroy explained, "he nearly had a heart attack when Rachel asked if we could take her to buy her first bra. He'll come back in a few minutes when he thinks it's safe."

She was part way through winding Nate when there was a knock on the door, "I'll go" she said, standing with Nate against her chest, his head on her shoulder as she rubbed and patted at his back. "Mom" she gasped as she opened the door, "what are you doing here?"

"Shelby" her mother frowned, "is that yours?" she gestured to Nate.

"Is he my son?" Shelby asked and her mother nodded, "yes he is."

"When did you adopt him?"

Now it was Shelby's turn to frown, "I gave birth to him and his sister six weeks ago tomorrow."

"His sister, you? You can't have any more children Shelby."

"Funny that" Shelby glared at the woman before her, "because I seem to remember carrying something large and heavy in my womb for 34 weeks before giving birth twice."

"Shelby, I"

"Look, you both made it clear that you didn't approve of my relationship with Noah, so what are you doing here?"

"They, they're his?"

"Yes they're his. Now why are you here?"

"It's your Daddy Shelbell, he's sick."

"So?"

"He'd like to see you Shelby, he'd like to see your babies, and Beth, she must be, what, eight, nine. I bet she's beautiful."

"She's six, almost seven and yes she is beautiful. As for wanting to see my babies, the last time he saw Beth he offered Noah money to walk away and leave us both. I had a tough pregnancy Mom, I'm not going to lie to you, I had a tough pregnancy and you and my father were nowhere to be seen. Granted you didn't know, but I didn't tell you because I knew you wouldn't be there. I've not spoken to you for three years Mom. You can't just come back and expect things to go back to normal."

"Mom" Rachel walked out from the living room, "Noah wondered if..." she noticed how tense Shelby looked, "is everything okay?"

Shelby sighed, "yeah, it's..." she carefully lifted Nate from her shoulder and noticed he'd fallen asleep again, "could you put him upstairs for me please, and see if Annie's awake."

"Wouldn't she have cried?" Shelby's mom asked from the doorstep.

"She doesn't cry" Shelby sighed before turning back to Rachel, "please baby, just lay him down and bring Annie down if she's awake. I'll explain later."

"Okay" Rachel nodded, eyeing Shelby's mother suspiciously, "call me if you need me."

"She called you Mom. That's not Beth." Shelby's mom was confused.

"No. You're right, it's not. It's Rachel, my eldest."

"The one you gave..."

"The one I was a surrogate for yes. Look, I can't stand here all day, I was in the middle of something"

"Shelby please" her mom tried to stop Shelby closing the door, "your baby, she's called Annie."

"Annabel, yes. And before you ask, yes, I did name her after Nanna."

"And the other one?"

"Nathaniel" Shelby sighed, "now please, I really need to get back, Annie will be ready for feeding."

"Please Shelby" her mother pleaded, "the doctors don't think daddy has long left. His kidneys are failing and his liver..." she shook her head, "please don't let a silly little argument stop you saying your goodbyes."

"It wasn't a silly little argument Mom, he offered Noah several thousand dollars to leave me." Shelby sighed, "I can't do this right now, we were trying to celebrate and you've just thrown this at me, I can't" she shook her head, "I need to talk to Noah, I need time to get my head around this. Give me some time, I'll call you."

Her mother nodded, "please don't leave it too long Shelby."

She shook her head, "I won't, just give me a couple of days."

"Okay" the elder woman finally backed down, "I'll look forward to your call" she said before turning and walking down the driveway before Shelby could reply.

Shelby walked back into the living room and collapsed on the sofa, pulling her legs into her chest and burying her head in her arms as she tried to compose herself and stop her tears from falling.

Leroy noticed Shelby's distress and smiled to Beth who was curled into Hiram, "Hey Beth" he forced himself to sound excited, "I know we've had a really big dinner but how about we go get some ice cream?" Just you me and Hiram?"

Beth frowned, "what about Hannah?"

"Okay" Leroy nodded, "She can come to?"

"Do you want to?" Beth asked Hannah.

Realising Leroy was trying to get Beth out of the house she nodded and jumped up from where she was sat on the floor, "first one to get their coat and shoes on wins extra sprinkles" she challenged as she and Beth both ran from the room."

"Thanks" Noah nodded to Leroy once he was sure Beth was out of earshot, "I'll give you the money for the..."

"No you won't" Leroy interrupted. "I offered to take her out, I'll pay. Do you want us to take Rachel?"

Noah looked at Shelby, her shoulders were shaking and he knew she was crying, "No" he decided, "Shelby will probably want her here."

Rachel came back down stairs just after Hiram and Leroy had left with Beth and Hannah, "She needed changing so I've do..." she took in the scene before her, "what's going on?"

"Here" Sarah lifted Annie from Rachel's arms, "I'll go sort this little lady out" she looked to Noah, "are there bottles in the fridge?"

"Yeah" he nodded, "thanks Mom."

"Shel" he sat on the sofa beside her, wrapping his arms around her shoulder and pulling her into him, "talk to me Shel, what's wrong."

"Who was at the door Mom?" Rachel asked, "who was she?"

"My mom" Shelby whispered, "it was my Mom."

"Your Mom" Noah growled, "he wasn't here too was he?"

Shelby shook her head, "she, she said he's sick, that he wanted to see me and my 'babies'. She didn't even know about the twins til I answered the door with Nate in my arms, she didn't know how old Beth was now and she didn't know I saw Rachel. How can he want to see my children. How can he expect me to go and act civil with him after everything he's done Noah. My mom, she said I was being stupid and I shouldn't let a silly little argument stop me seeing him. It wasn't silly Noah, he I. I'm sorry" She began to sob.

"Hey" Noah sighed, "you're right, it wasn't just a silly little argument, you've got every right to be upset but you've got nothing at all to be sorry for, nothing at all."

Rachel sighed, she didn't know the full story but she knew Shelby's parents didn't approve of her relationship with Noah, "do you want me to call Mira Mom?" She knew the therapist had given Shelby an emergency contact number and in her determination to get better she'd given the number to Sarah, and pinned a copy to the fridge so her family could call Mira if they were worried about her.

Shelby sniffled and nodded, "please. Could, could you ask her if I can see her before our appointment on Wednesday."

"Sure" Rachel smiled, squeezing Shelby's knee as she stood from the floor and made her way into the kitchen.

Mira made an appointment for Shelby on Monday morning, and Shelby sighed as she left Mira's office. She had two choices, she could get the elevator down to the ground floor and go home to her family or she could take the elevator up to the sixth floor where a conversation with her mother the night before had told her her father was. She stepped into the elevator as the doors opened and with shaking fingers reached out and pressed the button for the sixth floor. She knew she'd never be able to forgive herself if her father died before she'd had chance to say goodbye.

"Shelby" her mother saw her as she walked onto the ward, "I'm glad you came, didn't you bring the children?"

"No" she shook her head, "Beth is at school, and Noah's watching the twins. I erm, I had an appointment so I thought while I'm here I might as well..." she gestured to where her father was sleeping.

"An appointment? her mother asked, "is everything okay?"

Shelby nodded, "yeah, just, just postnatal stuff" she said vaguely and her mother nodded, thinking she understood.

"I never said congratulations" Shelby's mother broke the tense silence a while later, "for the babies."

Shelby smiled and nodded, "thanks."

"You must have been quite surprised?"

Shelby nodded, "we were surprised when I found out I was pregnant. Beth bought a sickness bug home from school and I caught it. I was ill for a lot longer than she was so I went to the doctor and he told me I was pregnant. I, we didn't find out it was twins til I was 20 weeks so as you can imagine, we were both pretty shocked."

"I can imagine" her Mother smiled softly, "are they both okay?"

"Yeah" Shelby nodded, "They erm, they were born at 34 weeks, so they were small, Annie more so than Nate, she's still in preemie clothes but Nate's gone into newborn" she nodded again, "they're small but they're healthy."

"That's good to hear" her Mom smiled as her dad began to stair in the bed.

"Karen" Shelby noticed how weak her father sounded as he reached out to his wife, "what is she doing here?"

"She's here to see you John."

"Is she still dating him?" Shelby couldn't believe how angry her father sounded.

"Look" she stood to her feet, "this was a bad idea, I should go"

"Shelby, no..." her Mom protested.

"No Mom" Shelby interrupted, "I should never have come."

"Shelby" her Mom followed her as she walked from the ward, "look, I know your father doesn't approve of your life, but, I, I'm sorry for not sticking up for you. Could we maybe try again?" She felt like saying no, but she knew that she only had Rachel in her life because Rachel allowed her to try again.

She nodded, "but I think you should know that Noah proposed to me last week, and I accepted. That's what we were celebrating when you came over on Sunday."

Her Mom nodded, "Congratulations, I know your father can't accept it but I see how happy he makes you, and you're old enough to make your own decisions. I'm happy for you Shel, I really am. Could I call you so we can catch up sometime? And I could maybe say hello to your babies and meet Rachel?"

Shelby nodded, "yeah, I'd like that."

"I'll call you then. It's been nice seeing you today Shelbell." Her mother kissed her cheek before turning back to her husband.

"Mom" Shelby called the elder woman back as she reached into her bag, "I bought these to show Dad" she handed her an envelope full of photos, "but maybe you'd like them?"

Her mother smiled and clutched the envelope tightly. "Thanks. I should get back to your father, but I call you I promise."

"How did it go?" Noah asked later that night. It was the first night the twins were spending in their nursery and Noah was looking used to spending some time alone with Shelby.

Shelby sighed. "He still hates me, hates us, but he was asleep when I got there and I talked to my Mom for a while, we're going to try again."

Noah nodded, "how do you feel about that?"

"I, I didn't want to at first, but then I though about Rach, she wouldn't be sleeping right down the hall if she hadn't have given me another chance, so how could I say no to my Mom. I told her we were engaged and she said she was happy for us." She shrugged, "I don't know, she said she'll call me, I'll just see how things go I guess." They snuggled together for a while before Shelby spoke again, "do you think they'll be okay?"

"Yeah" Noah nodded, "I think they'll be just fine." They'd been out that day and bought a top of the line baby monitor and baby sleeping bags, so Shelby could cross 'babies wriggling under the covers and suffocating' off her list of things to worry about.

Shelby woke with a start, rolling over she looked at the clock and realised it had been almost seven hours since her babies had woken, "Relax" Noah smiled, "Nate woke up at four and I gave him a bottle so you could sleep, Annie slept right through. I checked on her when I fed Nate but decided not to wake her and I heard Rachel go in about twenty minutes ago, from what I heard Annie was awake then. I think they've gone downstairs."

"Annie slept right through?"

"Yeah" Noah nodded, "I thought Nate would be the first to sleep through because he's bigger but apparently not. Annie might have been a one off though" he shrugged, "she might not sleep tonight."

"Annie does feed more often during the day though."

"Yeah" Noah nodded again, "and he naps more, I mean, to me, it seems like Annie's awake more during the day. I think they're both going to be completely different."

"Annie's so quiet" Shelby sighed, "I think Nate's going to get up to no good like you."

Noah gasped and put his hand on his heart like Shelby had offended him, "does that mean Annie's going to be a diva like you and Rach?"

Shelby shook her head and pulled herself from the bed as Nate began to whimper over the baby monitor, "she's going to be awesome like me Beth and Rach."


	33. Chapter 33

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Annie and Nate (the twins) Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah), Bruno the dog & occasionally Rachel.

**A/N - **Sorry for the delay, I've had some family problems that needed sorting out, and I've really hit a wall, fic-wise. I'm not a huge fan of this chapter but I didn't want to keep you waiting forever. If anyone has any ideas, either for this fic, or for a random one shot or whatever I'd be glad of anything to try and get me writing again!

Luthiem - It's like you read my mind! I've got something written already about Noah and his father but I didn't want that to come right after Shelby's confrontation with her parents, so maybe next chapter.

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><p>"Hey Mom" Rachel collapsed on the sofa beside Shelby, "can I ask you something?"<p>

"Shoot" Shelby smiled, running her fingers through Rachel's hair as the girl instinctively curled into her mother, laying her head on her Shelby's shoulder.

"One of my friends from New York is coming down to visit in a couple of weeks. Could they stay over here? I know it's a big ask with the twins, and I really really don't mind staying with my dads for a couple of days so don't feel like you need to say yes."

"Rachel, you're rambling baby" Shelby laughed slightly, "but if you don't mind sharing your room then it's fine for you to have a friend come over as long as they understand that there are two babies and a child in the house so they'll need to be quiet at night and although Annie's not too bad, Nate might wake them in the night when he gets hungry."

Rachel nodded, "I already told him about Annie and Nate."

Shelby raised an eyebrow, "him?"

"Yeah" Rachel nodded before seeing the look on Shelby's face, "he's just a friend Mom."

"Yeah yeah" Shelby teased, "I think we've got an air bed in the garage somewhere, do you want me to get Noah to find it out or..."

"I don't mind. He can share with me if that's easier."

Shelby chuckled and Rachel noticed a glint in her mother's eyes that she'd not seen for a long time, "right, okay. Just remember Rach, your room is right next door to Beth and although Noah and I are open with her, if she mentions any strange noises coming from your room I'm sending her to you."

"We're just friends Mom, really, we're not, we're not anything, just friends."

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much" Shelby teased, "should I call your fathers, ask them to send over some baby pictures? Oh, and remember what we agreed, no grandbabies til the twins are in kindergarten. Do you need me to buy you condoms?"

"Moooom" Rachel groaned and hit Shelby's arm, "even if we were together I doubt very much that we'd be having sex with you, Noah and the twins across the hall and Beth right next door. Some nights I can hear Beth and Noah snoring, so no, even if we were more than friends, which we're not, we wouldn't be doing anything like that."

"Maybe I'll get some for you just in case, there might be times when you're home alone, and I know it's hard to believe but I was your age once, you don't always plan for these 'encounters' to happen and it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Oh my God" Rachel sighed, "I wish I'd just told you I was spending a couple of days with my dads."

"What and make me miss out on the chance to question this boy's intentions? You haven't even told me his name yet."

"He's called Seth" Rachel blushed.

"Seth hey?" Shelby poked Rachel gently in the ribs, "you like him don't you? How do you know him?"

"He worked with stage management at the theatre I was at and he shared an apartment with a couple of other cast members."

"And do you like him?"

"Of course" Rachel put on a smile that Shelby saw right through, "he's a good friend."

"Yeah" Shelby teased, "I'm sure he is."

Shelby's birthday was the week before Seth's visit. She said she didn't want a big fuss making so Noah arranged for all the family, including Rachel's fathers and Shelby's mother, to come round for dinner and just like the night he proposed Noah cooked an amazing meal, "do you want some wine Han?" he asked his sister after he'd filled his mothers glass and mixed Shelby half a glass of wine with half a glass of soda water. Hannah nodded and Noah filled up her glass before moving on to Beth, "do you want some Bee?"

Beth nodded, "yes please daddy" she grinned as he half filled her glass before reaching for the soda water and filling it up.

"I'm sorry" Shelby's mother cut in, "I can understand Hannah being allowed wine, but surely you're not going to allow Beth to drink it too?"

"Yes we are" Shelby said firmly, "we want her to know that everything is okay in moderation. If we tell her she can't have any alcohol until she's 21 we're almost pushing her into drinking with her friends unsupervised. We want her to know that there's nothing 'taboo' about alcohol and if, when she's older, she wants to test her limits I'd much rather she did it here where I can take care of her, than get wasted at a house party where there's no one to make sure she's okay but plenty of people who might take advantage. I don't want to argue with you Mom, just respect that this is a decision Noah and I have made."

Shelby's mom nodded, "okay" she held her hands up in surrender, "I'm sorry."

Beth slowly and carefully pushed her glass away, "can I just have juice daddy?"

Noah nodded, "I'll get you some juice in a minute baby, but you can have the wine if you want it darling, it's okay with me and mommy and that's all that matters."

Beth shook her head, "I just want juice daddy."

Shelby's mother kept quiet whilst they ate their starter, they spoke about 'neutral' subjects, "I found a recipe for something I think you'll love" Noah told Rachel as he began to place bowls of vegetables and a perfectly roasted turkey on the table, beside something brown in a tray, "Leroy, do you want to do the honours?" he passed the eldest man a fork and carving knife which Leroy took and began to carve the turkey.

"What's that daddy?" Beth asked as Rachel cut herself a slice of the roast Noah had made her.

"It's a special roast for Rachel, you know how we told you she doesn't eat meat?" Beth nodded, "so I made her that to eat instead of turkey."

"What's in it?" The inquisitive youngster asked as Noah placed meat, potatoes and vegetables on her plate.

"It's nuts and mushrooms."

Beth frowned, "can I try it daddy?" she asked as Hiram too helped himself to the nut and mushroom roast. He wasn't a vegetarian but liked to try new things and Rachel's vegan roast looked and smelled amazing.

"Here" Rachel cut a corner off her slice and held her fork out to Beth, "it's really yummy."

Beth smelt the roast on the fork before putting it in her mouth and chewing slowly, "I like that" she looked up at Noah, "can I have some instead of my meat?"

Noah smiled and cut off a slice of the roast, placing it on Beth's plate, "you can have it as well as turkey, but if you don't want the meat then don't eat it" he kissed her head before moving back to his place beside Shelby and beginning to fill his own plate.

"What now?" Shelby asked as she heard her mom tut under her breath, as much as she wanted to rebuild a relationship with her mom she was starting to get tired of having her parenting skills questioned so often.

"Nothing" the elder woman shook her head, "I just think she should maybe have eaten what was on her plate before getting anything else."

"We're not going to stop her trying new foods, that's just stupid" Noah interrupted, "that's how you get kids who only eat burgers and pizzas, and if she doesn't eat it then she doesn't eat it. It's just going to be fed to Bruno whether it's left over on her plate or it's left on the roast." He looked through to the living room where Bruno was laying by the Moses' baskets 'protecting' the babies as they slept.

"Daddy?" Beth looked at her plate.

"Bee, baby" he sighed and gave Shelby's Mom a glare Shelby herself would have been proud of, "you eat what you want. If you want to eat the roast and leave your meat then you do that. If you want to eat a bit of everything then you do that, you know you don't have to ask for permission to eat."

Beth nodded and looked at her plate, "I don't like broc-li-li" she told him poking at the offending vegetable with her fork, "can I leave that and have more peas and parsnips and carrots instead?"

Noah nodded, "of course, eat the vegetables you want that are on your plate already, leave the broccoli, and when you've eaten the ones you have I'll get you some more."

Beth nodded and began to eat her food, pausing occasionally to poke at the broccoli, "here" Hannah knew the broccoli was annoying Beth, "I'll have your broccoli" she leant over the table and stabbed the broccoli with her fork before dropping it onto her own plate, "there you go" she grinned, "it's not in your way any more."

"Thanks" Beth smiled at Hannah as Hannah began to chew on the broccoli she'd taken from her niece, "when's Kyra gonna come over again?"

Hannah's face fell, she'd noticed how strict Shelby's mother was, and that the woman had barely spoken two words to Hiram and Leroy so she'd tried to avoid the subject of relationships. "I don't know Bee, maybe I could call her and see if she could come over to watch some Disney movies or something."

Beth nodded, "that'd be cool."

"Who's Kyra?" Shelby's mother asked.

Beth grinned, she was cleverer than the adults sometimes gave her credit for, "she's Hannah's best friend" she smiled knowingly, "we hang out sometimes, she's so awesome."

Shelby sighed in relief when, half an hour after they'd all finished eating her mother said she should be getting back to her father at the hospital. "Why is Momma's Momma so nasty?" Beth asked once her grandmother had left the room, "Rachel's really kind and Momma's really kind so why isn't Momma's Momma?"

"I don't know" Noah sighed, "some people are just nastier than others. I think your Momma is so nice because she doesn't want to be like her Momma. Sometimes Momma's Momma says things that upset your Momma, and your Momma never wants to upset you like her Momma upsets her. Does that make sense baby?"

Beth nodded, "Momma never upsets me, she's the best Momma ever."

Shelby meanwhile had walked her mother to the door, "I, I don't think I can do this" she told her mother as they stood in the hallway, "I want to know you, I want my children to know you, but I can't...I'm trying to fight post natal depression Mom, I need people to support me, not question my every parenting decision." She took a deep breath, "Noah and I are doing our best to raise our children, we might not always make the right decision but we do what we think is best. Yes we let Beth have half a glass of wine on special occasions and we let her choose her own bed time at weekends but she's happy and she knows we love her. I don't have the twins on a feeding schedule because I want them to eat when they're hungry, not when it's convenient for me, and yes it is a bit awkward when one of them wants to feed when I'm eating lunch or whatever, but they're six weeks old, they're putting on weight and nine nights out of ten Annie sleeps for a solid eight or nine hours. I might not do things the way you would Mom but I'm not you, I don't want to be you."

"Shelby I..."

"No." Shelby shook her head, "I, I can't do this right now. I'll call you, but I need to take a step back right now."

Her mom nodded, "okay" she nodded, "I'm sorry Shelby."

Shelby nodded, "I'll call you Mom."

"Okay, and I'll let you know how your father gets on?"

Shelby nodded again, "yeah. That'd be good."

"I'll see you soon hopefully."

"Yeah. I'll not leave it too long, I just need time to get things sorted out."

"For what it's worth" Shelby's mom paused before she left, "I think you're doing a great job with all your children. I'm really proud of you Shelbell."


	34. Chapter 34

**Never be alone again **- Shelby finds out she'll never have to go through anything alone again. Originally a oneshot inspired by THAT kiss!

**Rating** - T

**Characters** - Shelby, Puck, Beth, Annie and Nate (the twins) Mrs Puckerman (Sarah), Noah's sister (Hannah), Bruno the dog & occasionally Rachel.

**A/N - **I'm so so sorry that it's been so long since I updated this but I had NO inspiration at all. I'm still not 100% happy with this chapter but I wanted to give you something and try and get myself back into updating regularly. That said, as always, any ideas you have would be much welcomed! I have an idea for the next chapter and I'm hoping I can get that out in the next week, 2 tops, if anyone's still interested in reading this!

Whilst I've not been having much luck I do have a Rachel/Shelby short story (maybe 3 chapters long) that just needs tidying up and the possible beginnings of a Rachel/Santana bit of something so keep your eyes open for those. I'm aiming to have the Rachel/Shelby one up in the next week or so but the Rachel/Santana one may take a bit longer.

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><p>"I'm going to fetch Seth from the airport" Rachel told Shelby as she walked into the kitchen, "do you need me to get anything while I'm out?"<p>

Shelby shook her head as she finished rinsing the last bottle and put it in the steriliser, "you can put this in the microwave though."

Rachel took the steriliser from her mother and set it going in the microwave, "I should be back by five."

Shelby nodded, "okay" she smiled to Rachel, "you look nice Rach, that dress looks great on you."

"Thanks" Rachel did a twirl for her mom, "I should get going."

Shelby nodded again, "Okay baby" she kissed Rachel's forehead, "drive safely, and don't do anything I wouldn't do on the way home."

"Moooom" Rachel hit Shelby's arm playfully, "I'm leaving now."

Rachel was pulling into a space in the parking lot when Seth sent her a text to tell her he was just waiting for his luggage, and it was less than ten minutes later when someone crept up behind her and covered her eyes with large hands, "guess who" Seth whispered into her ear, Rachel screamed slightly and span around to hug him tightly, "I've missed you Rach" he grinned, kissing her hair as she held him tightly.

"I've missed you too" she mumbled into his chest.

"Come on" Seth spoke a while later, "I want to meet your crazy family, I don't want to spend my precious vacation time in Columbus airport."

"Right, right" Rachel pulled away, "sorry, have you got everything? Do you want me to carry anything?"

Seth shook his head, "No, I'm all good, I've got it, you just lead the way." Seth asked Rachel to stop off at a florists on the way home and, after making Rachel stay in the car, he emerged with three bouquets, "this one's for you" he told Rachel as he laid them on the back seat, the other one is for your mom and the sunflowers are for Beth. I've got gifts for Noah and the twins in my bag."

"Seth" Rachel sighed, "they're beautiful, but you really shouldn't have."

"Well I have, so there we are."

Rachel laughed, "My Mom already thinks we're more than friends, buying me flowers isn't going to help."

"You must be Seth" Shelby stepped into the hallway as she heard the door closed, "nice to meet you" she held out her hand for Seth to shake.

"And you must be Rachel's Mom" he smiled as he shook Shelby's hand firmly, "I got you these" he passed her the flowers, "and can I say right now, you look amazing for someone who had twins 8 weeks ago."

Shelby blushed as she took the flowers, "thanks. Are you sure you're only friends?" she asked Rachel, "cos if you are I'm telling Noah to pack his things right now and keeping this one for myself."

"We are just friends Mom and I think one of my friends is enough don't you?"

Shelby laughed, "don't spoil my fun Rach. Beth" she called up the stairs, "Rachey's home."

Beth bounded down the stairs, "Hey" Rachel greeted her younger sister, "this is my friend Seth."

"Hey Beth" Seth crouched down to meet Beth, "I got you these" he held out the sunflowers, "I thought you might like them."

"Sunflowers" Beth grinned, "We're growing them at school."

"Oh" Shelby gasped in Rachel's ear as she watched Seth interact with Beth, "he's a keeper Rach."

"Mom" Rachel batted at Shelby, "don't."

They stood in the hallway for a while until Noah came in from the kitchen with Nate on his hip, "Nate's up Shelb" he stopped when he saw Seth.

"Noah, this is Seth" Rachel introduced the two and Seth held out a hand that Noah shook firmly, "and Seth this is my baby brother Nate" she reached out and tickled Nate's ribs gently causing the baby to babble and kick out his arms and legs before giving his sister a gummy smile.

"Well" Seth smiled at Nate, "aren't you a little cutie."

There was a tiny whimper from the living room and Rachel smiled, "and that's my sister Annie."

"That's my cue that someone wants her dinner, excuse me" Shelby smiled before slipping into the living room to settle Annie.

"I'll show you where to leave your bags" Rachel told Seth, "put these in some water for me" she handed Noah the flowers Seth had bought her.

"And these daddy" Beth handed him the sunflowers, "I'm gonna help Rachel and Seth."

Beth gave Seth a tour of the house before he finally unpacked and Rachel took him downstairs to where Shelby was still feeding Annie. "Where did Bee go?" Rachel asked as she sat beside Seth on the sofa.

"Noah took Bruno for a walk" Shelby told her as she shifted Annie from one breast to the other, ""Beth wanted to go and Noah took Nate too so I could see to Little Miss Feedsalot." They sat in silence for a while before Shelby asked, "Have you got any siblings Seth?" She'd promised Rachel she wouldn't embarrass her, so she tried to keep the conversation light.

Rachel chuckled before Seth nodded and answered "seven".

"Seven!" Shelby was shocked, "wow".

Seth laughed, "yeah, that's what most people say, but I've just got one full sister, Hailie, she's 19. My parents divorced when she was five and they both remarried. My dad and stepmom have two boys, Alfie and Rhys. Alfie is twelve and Rhys is ten and then my mom and stepdad have had four, Charlotte, Lucy, Oliver and Tom. Tom is nine, Lucy and Oliver are seven and Charlotte has just turned three, I think Charlotte was a bit of a surprise."

"You were a big surprise weren't you?" She asked Annie as she stroked her cheek softly, "we were surprised when we found out about your brother but when we found out you were in there too..." She trailed off and bent to kiss Annie's cheek. "You were the best surprise ever."

Seth smiled, Rachel had told him about Shelby's surprise, not only when she found out she was pregnant but when she found out her 'baby' was actually 'babies', "She's beautiful" Seth smiled, "all your children are."

"Thanks" Shelby smiled, "but I'm sure Noah would insist that I can't take all the credit for that. Apart from Rachel, Hiram and Leroy aren't here so I'm going to take all the credit for her."

"I can't believe how alike the two of you are" Seth shook his head, "if I didn't know you, I mean if I just saw you walking down the street together I'd have assumed you were sisters, I'd say there was no more than about ten years between you. You must have been a kid yourself when you had her"

Shelby smiled, "whilst I'm completely flattered, I'm sure Rachel won't appreciate being told she looks almost as old as her mother, and for what it's worth, I was eighteen, Rachel was born seven weeks before my nineteenth birthday."

By the time Noah, Beth and Nate had returned from walking Bruno Seth was holding Annie. Noah let Bruno off the lead and the dog ran into the living room. He stopped when he saw Annie in Seth's arms and began growling angrily, dropping his body low against the floor like he was ready to pounce. "Hey" Shelby scolded Bruno, "it's okay".

"Bruno" Noah called the dog as he too walked into the room, Nate sleeping in the baby carrier strapped to his chest, Bruno looked up to Noah, "here" he clicked his fingers by his side, and without taking his eyes from Seth Bruno moved to stand by Noah, "he's okay." Noah turned his attention to Seth, "hold out your hand, let him smell you, he's so protective of the kids it's unreal." It wasn't just the children Bruno was protective of, Noah had been arguing with Shelby in the kitchen one evening and Bruno had come in to protect Shelby, he'd acted exactly like this, "you need to show him you're not a threat."

"Hey boy" Seth spoke slowly as he slowly held out his hand, palm up, towards the dog, "I'm not going to hurt her."

"He's okay" Rachel moved to sit closer to Seth, running her hand over Bruno's head and scratching between his ears. Bruno slowly sniffed at Seth's outstretched hand before licking it once and settling down to lie by Seth's feet. "He likes you" Rachel smiled, reaching out to stroke the dog again. "Now he knows you're not a threat."

It was a little after nine when Rachel and Seth excused themselves to watch a movie in Rachel's room. As it was a Friday Beth was allowed to stay up and so she was curled into her parents when Rachel and Seth left the room.

"Hey Rach" Shelby pushed her eldest daughter's bedroom door open without knocking just before ten, "I've just put Bee to bed so can... Oh" she smiled as she saw Rachel laid against Seth's chest, fast asleep under the blanket that was once Shelby's grandmother's.

"She wanted to watch a movie and fell asleep 10 minutes into it" Seth explained.

Shelby smiled, "it's the cuddles, she falls asleep cuddling Annie or Nate, it's pretty adorable."

"Yeah" Seth ran a hand through Rachel's hair, "she is."

Shelby sat on the edge of the bed, "I'm not going to pretend that I know what's going on between the two of you, and to be honest it doesn't matter to me whether you're friends or something more, but Rach, I don't care how old she is, she's my baby girl so, just look after her, and if you need to let her down, please do it gently."

Seth nodded, "I promise I'll look after her."


End file.
